HEAT PENETRATION STUDY ON PACKAGED FOODS PROCESSED WITH A SEMI-CONTINUOUS MICROWAVE STERILIZATION SYSTEM

摘要

This research investigated the influence of internal configuration of microwave (MW) heating cavity and salt & oil concentrations in mashed potato packaged in 10.5-oz polymeric trays on MW processing, collected heat penetration data from six runs of tests, and established a MW sterilization process to achieve the Fo higher than 5 min for the mashed potato trays using a 30-kW, 915-MHz, single-mode, semi-continuous, MW-assisted sterilization system. The cold spot inside the food tray was determined by a chemical-maker-based computer-vision method. Ellab data loggers were chosen as temperature sensors to record food temperatures during the MW processing. The developed process is being filed for FDA acceptance.