Microwave heating technology

Thermal technologies have been at the core of food preservation and production for many years. However, despite the fact that heat treatments provide the required safety profile and extension of shelf life (Osorio et al., 2008), some more recent thermal technologies, for example, microwave energy, are being explored in an attempt to find alternatives to conventional heating methods that essentially rely on conductive, convective, and radiative heat transfer and lead to dramatic losses of both desired sensory properties and nutrients and bioactive compounds (Picouet et al., 2009). Currently, given the recent increased demand for health-promoting foods with fresh-like characteristics (Elez-Martínez et al., 2006), the industrial sector is showing a greater interest in the development and optimization of novel food preservation processes, intending to meet consumer expectations by marketing a variety of high-quality, minimally processed food products in which the required safety and shelf-life demands are achieved but the negative impact on quality attributes is minimized (Señorans et al., 2003).