Dielectric Heating: A Review of Liquid Foods Processing Applications

ABSTRACT

Dielectric heating is one of the most promising alternatives to conventional thermal treatment of fluid foods. Higher thermal efficiency and better heating uniformity of radio frequency and microwave processes have been proven successful in providing a similar or better bacterial and enzymatic inactivation in liquid and semi-solid foods while improving the sensory and nutritional qualities of the fresh product when compared to conventional pasteurization. However, further investigations are necessary to advance scaling up of applications at different frequencies and to better understand heat distribution and energy consumption of industrial dielectric heating operations.

KEYWORDS:

• Dielectric heating
• dielectric properties
• liquid foods
• microwave
• radio frequency

Acknowledgements

This was supported by the Ministry of Industry of Spain under project RTI2018-098052-R-C31 and by CERCA program from Generalitat de Catalunya. The scholarship support provided by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) to Andres Abea is greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

The authors report that there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [RTI2018-098052-R-C32]; Centres de Recerca de Catalunya [CERCA]; Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España [RTI2018-098052-R-C31].