Developing practical and small-scale radio frequency technology for tempering minced chicken breast at home

Abstract

Radio frequency (RF) tempering, as a new tempering method suitable for overall heating applications, has been widely used for meat processing industry. However, an effective and uniform tempering process in a suitable RF system is still lacking for household applications. The cylindrical chicken breasts (Φ75 mm × 60 mm, Φ100 mm × 60 mm, and Φ125 mm × 60 mm) in a cubic polypropylene container were tempered in a newly self-built small-scale 50 Ω domestic RF heating system. Crushed ice was applied to surround the medium-size sample to improve the temperature distribution by matching the electric field behaviors in the RF tempering process. This study explored the effects of crushed ice assisted RF tempering (CIRFT) on heating behavior of test samples under three input power levels (300, 500, and 700 W) and three electrode gaps (80, 90, and 100 mm). The tempering performance between CIRFT and crushed ice assisted microwave tempering (CIMWT) were compared. The product quality [drip loss, color, pH value, and total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN) content] obtained through CIRFT, RFT, CIMWT, and MWT were compared. Results demonstrated that at the optimum CIRFT condition (500 W, 80 mm) the tempering rate and the heating uniformity of samples were improved as compared to RFT. In addition, the drip loss and TVBN content of the samples were relatively better with CIRFT than with RFT. Moreover, the better-quality attributes were obtained in RF treatments compared to MW tempering. Thus, CIRFT showed a positive effect on chicken tempering for household applications resulting in a rapid and uniform heating with a relatively greater retention of product quality.