Sterilization of Foodstuffs Using Radio Frequency Heating

A study was conducted with a pilot‐scale sterilization system based on 27‐MHz radio frequency (RF) energy to investigate the effectiveness in shortening process time and in improving quality for foods sealed in 6‐pound military‐ration polymeric trays. Chemical marker M‐1 was used to evaluate heating uniformity in 20% whey protein gels as a model food, and macaroni and cheese was processed to assess the influence of RF process on product quality. With the RF system, a lethality (F0= 10 min) was achieved in both model food and macaroni and cheese within 30 min with relative uniform heating, compared to a 90 min conventional retort process that delivered a similar lethality.