2006 Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 85-97
The application of far-infrared heating or microwave heating has been used in many food processings such as drying, cooking, and thawing. In the far-infrared heating, since excessive heating causes the degradation of food, it is very important to know how the temperature distribution is formed in the food during heating. To investigate the heat transfer process, a mathematical model was developed and was used to examine the effect of heating condition on the temperature distribution of food. Microwave heating has a tendency to heat foods unevenly, causing problems with both sensory and microbiological quality. This uneven heating is caused by various factors; the shape or size of food affects the microwave power distribution in the food, electric field intensity in a microwave oven is non-uniform, dielectric properties of food vary with temperature, and dielectric properties of some foods are non-uniform. To investigate the effects of these factors on temperature distribution, a mathematical model was developed by using Lambert' s law. It was confirmed that the mathematical model is useful in predicting the temperature distributions of food during microwave heating.
