VFM · The Effect of microwave frequency and pulsed microwave power on meat carried bacteria
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2005-07-01 → 2007-06-30
- EU contribution
- €80,000
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- IRG
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - VFM (The effect of microwave frequency and pulsed microwave power on meat carried bacteria)
The aim of this project was to evaluate the potential of using microwaves for destructing common food carried bacteria. The objective was to reduce the energy input so that the technique and methodology becomes more attractive for different commercial applications. Three different bacteria were examined and included Ecoli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus. Results proved that under fixed frequency (2.45 GHz) conditions and power levels up to 100 Watts, all three bacteria were destructed at different resident time intervals. Although experiments with pulsed power conditions improved the killing rate by at least 5%, the variable frequency trials did not yield any comparable improvements even at much higher power levels. The most important scientific achievement was to bring the power level down to bacteria destruction levels without substantially increasing the temperature to intrinsic lethal levels and evaluate the potential that the technology can be implemented in industrial or domestic applications for improving the shelve life of foodstuff.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The shelf life of food products, particularly meat is very short. A process that can extend its acceptable life by a few days would reduce wastage, increase the yield of meat processing plants and improve the shelf life of super-market meat products. It is al so possible to reduce the incidence of food poisoning in restaurants and homes when the number of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, e.g. salmonella and pathogens, is reduced by exposing them eat to microwaves. Variable Frequency Microwaves (VFM) and Pulsed Power Microwaves (PPM) can offer aviable alternative for extending the shelf life of meat products and provide better efficiency and effectiveness in minimising bacteria populations without affecting the quality of the product.This technology can also provide pasteurisation means for hermetically sealed packaged meat food. This project ultimately aims at developing methods and techniques for extending the shelf life of meats and help design facilities that can be used for high volume treatment in meat processing plants and in supermarkets as well as for low volume storage sites including restaurants and homes. The socio-economic benefits can be immense.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLTON HEC · BOLTONCoordinatorCity levelUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union