Microwave technology and foods

Microwave-assisted digestion of β-lactoglobulin by pronase, α-chymotrypsin and pepsin

“…Microwaves are electromagnetic waves and the heating of proteins is accomplished by the absorption of microwave energy, rotation of the bipolar water molecules and oscillatory migration of the ionic components of the proteins (Ohlsson & Bengtsson, 2001). Prior information about kinetic properties of the enzyme in question under MWI is essential for designing an enzymatic process, since the kinetic parameters are enzyme, substrate and environment specific (Beg, Saxena, & Gupta, 2002).…”

Cooking Pattern and Quality Properties of Ground Pork Patties as Affected by Microwave Power Levels

“…In a slab with sharp corners and edges protruding into the microwave fields, energy concentrations will occur causing selective heating, especially at the corners. A sharp edge or corner will act as an antenna and attract more energy than the surrounding areas (Ohlsson and Bengtsson, 2001;Ohlsson and Risman, 1978). These effects are well documented in many literatures (Chamchong and Datta, 1999;Ni et al, 1999;Ohlsson et al, 1974;Zeng and Faghri, 1994).…”

“…Center-heating effects for spherical or cylindrical shapes result from a concentration of energy to the center of the food. This effect depends not only on the processing frequency but also on the diameter and conductivity of the product (Mudgett, 1986;Ohlsson and Bengtsson, 2001). Another undesirable heating pattern dependent upon the geometric shape of the food involves overheating at the corner and edges.…”

Recent Advances in Minimal Heat Processing of Fish: Effects on Microbiological Activity and Safety

“…For RF heating, an operating frequency of 27.12 MHz is most commonly used. Zhang et al 2007 The MW heating of food in pouches or ready-made meals in trays has been widely investigated (Table 3) (Ohlsson and Bengtsson 2001;Zhang et al 2001), and is also used industrially on a large scale. The practical problems in achieving uniform and reproducible heating have been addressed by carefully designed microwave cavities, by the application of shielding or field directing films onto certain areas of the packages, by complicated power control schemes to direct controlled amounts of MW power to defined areas on food trays or by the use of multimode cavity tunnels, in which the scattered MW fields are expected to give a fairly uniform coupling of MW energy into the food packages.…”

“…Moreover, the potential for the mathematical modelling of products designed for dielectric heating has been demonstrated (Romano et al 2005). Many research groups are now involved in providing the knowledge needed for increased industrial use (Al Holy et al 2005;Campanone and Zaritzky 2005;Costa et al 2005;Guan et al 2004;Gunasekaran et al 2005;Icier and Baysal 2004;Ohlsson and Bengtsson 2001;Ryynanen et al 2004;Sakai et al 2005).…”