Abstract
In this paper, a novel technique to achieve precise temperatures in food sterilization has been proposed. An accurate temperature profile is needed in order to reach a commitment between the total removal of pathogens inside the product and the preservation of nutritional and organoleptic characteristics. The minimal variation of the target temperature in the sample by means of a monitoring and control software platform, allowing temperature stabilization over 100 °C, is the main goal of this work. A cylindrical microwave oven, under pressure conditions and continuous control of the microwave supply power as function of the final temperature inside the sample, has been designed and developed with conditions of single-mode resonance. The uniform heating in the product is achieved by means of sample movement and the self-regulated power control using the measured temperature. Finally, for testing the sterilization of food with this technology, specific biological validation based on Bacillus cereus as a biosensor of heat inactivation has been incorporated as a distribution along the sample in the experimental process to measure the colony-forming units (CFUs) for different food samples (laboratory medium, soup, or fish-based animal by-products). The obtained results allow the validation of this new technology for food sterilization with precise control of the microwave system to ensure the uniform elimination of pathogens using high temperatures.
Highlights
Conventional sterilization procedures for packaged foods are based on retort treatments which are subjected to high pressure and temperatures in excess of 100 ◦ C to guarantee their safety
A real installation based on a single-mode pressurized cavity, online data acquisition system, control software, and a monitoring system has been designed and implemented for modelling the food sterilization process. Another limitation to ensure real uniformity in sterilization processes is the absence of microwave-adapted biological methods to determine the degree of variability in heating achieved based on microbial inactivation at each point of the food
Fish-based animal by-products (F-ABP), and vegetable soup, which consists of 30% vegetables,Since the Dielkitv equipment does not measurements, dielectric characterization where the main ingredients are allow carrots,pressurized potato, celery, onions, tomato,the turnip, pumpkin, corn starch, of and dehydrated milk. under 100 ◦ C
Summary
Conventional sterilization procedures for packaged foods are based on retort treatments which are subjected to high pressure and temperatures in excess of 100 ◦ C to guarantee their safety. A real installation based on a single-mode pressurized cavity, online data acquisition system, control software, and a monitoring system has been designed and implemented for modelling the food sterilization process Another limitation to ensure real uniformity in sterilization processes is the absence of microwave-adapted biological methods to determine the degree of variability in heating achieved based on microbial inactivation at each point of the food. This implies the difficulty of using existing biosensors that can efficiently measure the effectiveness of the heating process and its variability. In the case of microwave heating, uncertainty about cold spots is the main challenge to ensure the safety of food or treated products and, to characterize a suitable microorganism that can evaluate uniformity in different substrates was a key step
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