There is a close relationship between food and people’s health. Now people pay more and more attention to food safety which requires more mature and health techniques and equipment in food processing. While the development of microwave equipment makes all this true.
How microwave applies in food processing? Momently, microwave equipment is mainly applied in two aspects of food processing: microwave drying and microwave sterilization.
Microwave Drying Introduction
Food processing mainly uses the thermal effect of the microwave. The microwave penetrates the materials and then the interaction of the microwave and the polar molecule changes the molecular structure which leads to the friction and collision of the molecular, thus the heat generated and the temperature increased.
Microwave Drying Features
( 1 ) The heating processing is faster. The microwave can penetrate the food which makes the heating process cost less time than the traditional way.
( 2 ) The heating uniformity is better. The material can be heated evenly using the microwave however the shapes are, which improves the quality of the food.
( 3 ) The heating efficiency is improved. Microwave can penetrate the material and make the molecular generated the heat itself and with no heat-transfer medium, the consumption of energy is low.
( 4 ) The equipment is easy to control. The automated production equipment of microwave heating can be in operation once the power switched on.
With these features, microwave heating techniques and equipment are widely used in food processing. Currently, the microwave heating techniques are used in the processing of agriculture products, meat packing, seafood storing and other aspects.
Microwave Sterilization Introduction
Microwave sterilization ultimate the thermal effect and the biological effect of the electromagnetic field. The thermal effect of the microwave to the bacteria change the protein which makes the bacteria lost the nutrition and finally died.
Microwave Sterilization Features
( 1 ) Microwave sterilization costs less time. Traditional sterilization transfers the heat through heat conduction, convection or radiation which needs a long time to meet the sterilization temperature. While the microwave directly acts on the food, the processing of the sterilization is faster.
( 2 ) Cold sterilization can keep the nutrition and the taste of the food. Since microwave sterilization uses cold sterilization, the food keeps more nutrition and most of its taste than the traditional way.
When in the 1960s, people had applied the microwave techniques in the food industry and especially the heating and sterilization process abroad, while the first use of the microwave in China was in1975. Later, it was widely used in the processing of meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy products and so on. As a modern high and new technics, microwave technics promote the development of the food industry especially for those products that require high quality, which traditional technics can not meet the requirements.
With the development of science and techniques, people pay more attention to energy conservation and efficiency food processing techniques, the application of microwave on food processing is inevitably a new technique with a great prospects in China and abroad. To develop new microwave equipment and techniques, further to improve the production efficiency and quality and safety of the food is what microwaves should aim to.
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