FREEZEWAVE H2020 PROJECT-MICROWAVE ASSISTED FREEZING OF POTATO

摘要

In the recent times, several novel freezing techniques have been attracting remarkable attention not onlyrnwithin the scientific community but also in the food industry due to their ability to enhance the formation ofrnsmall size ice crystals and to prevent food products from freeze-damage. One of these is freezing assisted byrnelectromagnetic waves. This short study was intended to investigate the impact freezing under low powerrnmicrowaves (MWs) (2450 MHz) had on the freezing time and the microstructure of the potatoes. The timerntaken by the conventional freezing process to reach – 10 ℃ from 6 ℃ was 13.95 min, while the samerntemperature change was achieved within 37.53, 19.87 and 20.18 min for short pulse high power (SPHP),rnlong pulse low power (LPLP) and constant microwave (MW) freezing conditions, respectively. Althoughrnthat the application of MWs during freezing process, as it was expected, resulted in longer freezing timerncompared to conventional freezing condition, the image analysis (X-ray _(micro-computed) tomography) resultsrnrevealed that the application of MWs during freezing process produced better microstructure than thernconventional method.