About the Food Thermal Processing laboratory

Human beings have heated food for consumption from time immemorial. Heating has many functions: it aids digestion, improves the taste of food, and removes factors harmful to humans. On the basis of their experiences and views of nature, human beings have handed down the serendipitous discovery and use of fire, or heating, as an effective treatment method for food. However, with the production and distribution of large amounts of processed and prepared foods in modern times, foods have to be heated appropriately on the basis of definitive evidence. Lack of heating can result in the proliferation of microorganisms harmful to humans, while excessive heating may lead to the production of new harmful substances. Culinary technological approaches allow us to predict various changes that may occur in food materials based on heat transfer phenomena, and to optimally control cooking.

Our aim is to build a model that can predict various changes that occur in foods during heating and to control these phenomena.

Model for the simulation

Predicted temperature distribution in the microwave oven during heating (after 180sec heating). Sample in the container with turn-table.

Simulation of the changes in the temperature and the sterilization value(F-value) profile in the hamburger patty during pan-frying