The muscular stomach can store up to 1 liter of food. It mixes food with the secretions of the folded stomach lining and steadily releases the liquefied contents (chyme) through the pyloric sphincter into the small intestine. Reflux (backflow) of stomach contents into the esophagus is prevented in part by the tonus of the gastroesophageal sphincter, located at the interior end of the esophagus.