W.A. Mihiravi Pamuditha gave a presentation on radio frequency (RF) heating technology for food processing. RF heating uses electromagnetic energy to induce volumetric heating within foods. It has advantages over conventional heating like faster and more uniform heating. Some applications of RF heating in food include thawing, baking, drying, pasteurization and using RFID tags for tracking. While it provides benefits, RF equipment has higher costs. The future of RF technology may include its expanded use in continuous food processing and integration with technologies like nanotechnology and smart refrigerators.

1. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
• W.A.M.Pamuditha
• 3rd year 1st semester
• Food Science & Technology Department

2. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
• W.A. Mihiravi Pamuditha
 Taxila Central College, Horana
 Want to be a food technologist
 My hobbies- Reading novels, news papers
• Every life need a correct guidance!

3. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
CONTENT
 Introduction
 Radio frequency (RF) heating Mechanism
 difference between conventional heating & RF
 Applications in food industry
 Advantages of using RF in food processing
 Disadvantages of using RF in food processing
 The future of RF food processing technology
 RF applications for Sri Lanka

4. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
INTRODUCTION
• Radio frequency (RF) heating is an advanced and emerging
technology for food application.
• In the modern industries the demand for safe, hygienic,
tastier, no fat and preservative free food has increased up RF
application.
Goal of Novel Technologies
Food preservation by ensuring its safety and quality has been a
prime goal of food processors.
Therefore the efforts of processors - attending consumer
demands for high quality food and dealing with raising
economic standards

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Radio frequency (RF) heating Mechanism

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Radio frequency (RF) heating Mechanism contd.
• The electromagnetic energy transfers directly into the
product. Therefore it induce volumetric heating due to
frictional interaction between molecules.
• In RF heating the food is placed between two capacitor
plates. It plays the role of a dielectric where a high frequency
alternating electric field is applied.
• Such field will force polar molecules (water) to constantly
realign themselves with the electric field.
• This molecular movement is very fast due to the high
frequency of the field. It will cause for the generation of heat
within the food by energy dissipation caused by molecular
friction.

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
RF vs. conventional heating
Conventional heating (i.e. conduction, convection, radiant) has a
heat source on the outside. Heat is transferring to the surface of
the material and then conducting the heat to the middle of the
material. Radio Frequency heating is different; it heats at the
molecular level. So it heats from within the material and heats the
middle as well as the surface.

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Applications in food industry
1. Thawing of food products –
• Rapid thawing of meat and seafood products
enhancing the product freshness quality.
• more suitable for industrial heating of meats –
Because RF has greater penetration depths than
MW
• By radiofrequency treatment, thawing meat blocks to
within a target temperature range of -1 to +5⁰C is
feasible.

9. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
• It has minimum drawbacks than the common
methods such as immersion in tanks or spraying with
water. Water systems have several problems such as
under-thawed product
 yield losses
over-thawed product involving problems
with texture loss
decreased freshness
excessive water consumption

10. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
2. Baking and drying
• widely used application of RF heating in the food
processing industry
• The addition of a relatively small RF unit to the end of
a conventional baking line results in a substantial
increase in product yield, improve the product
quality.
• more energy being dissipated in wet regions than in
drier ones

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Food dryer

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Baking and drying contd.
• This RF leveling leads to improvements in product quality and
more consistent final products eg- :
drying of: food ingredients (e.g. herbs, spices, vegetables)
potato products - French fries
number of pasta products
The post-baking of biscuits
RF drying of grains such as cowpea grains
moisture removal, and “moisture leveling” in finished goods
• 3. Pasteurization/sterilization
There is a demand for more in-package pasteurization today. As
a non-contact volumetric heating technique, RF is an ideal
process for this application.

13. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
4. RFID Tags
• RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags have been
used for some years now.
• They work much like a barcode, uniquely identifying a
large number of products.
• The RFID component on the tags have two parts: a
microchip that stores and processes information, and
an antenna to receive and transmit a signal.

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
RFID Tags contd.
• RFID has the potential to increase efficiency of operations, improve asset
visibility and traceability, decrease reliance on manual processes, reduce
operations costs, and provide useful data for business analytics.
• RFID tags can also incorporate additional information such as
details of the product and manufacturer and can transmit
measured environmental factors such as temperature and relative
humidity.
• theoretically possible to trace the product back all the way of every
raw material that went into that product.

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Advantages of using RF in food processing
Radio Frequency heating and drying offer many benefits over
conventional heating and drying methods.
Faster heating and drying times
More uniform heating and drying
Self limiting during drying
Moisture leveling and profiling
Selective heating
Energy efficiency
Shorter process lines.
Contactless heating

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Disadvantages of using RF in food processing
 Equipment and operating cost
The main disadvantage of RF heating. For an equivalent
power output, RF heating equipment is more expensive
than conventional convection, radiation or steam
heating systems. It is also more expensive than an
equivalent ohmic heating system.

17. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
The future of RF food processing technology
• Although the RF applications are quite limited in the
food industry as a whole, the consumer demand for
ever-tastier, ever cheaper, low or no-fat, chemical free
and safe products have recently extend its application
in the food processing.
• By replacing conventional dryers with Radio
Frequency dryers, manufacturers will be able to
change from batch processes to continuous
processes. It will reduce the drying times.

18. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
The future of RF food processing technology contd.
• Nanotechnology techniques are already used in the
manufacture of RFID tags. The improvements in
these techniques in the coming years will result in
smaller, cheaper RFID systems. This will make them
ever more common and they will eventually replace
barcodes altogether.

19. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
• In the future, the household refrigerators will
recognize the RFID tags of frozen food; remind
you to buy fresh milk; throw off the expired
food, decrease the consume of high
cholesterol food and so on…!

20. Emerging Food Technologies Presentation Series - 2016
University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
RF applications for Sri Lanka
• The application of RFID in tracking the fruit and
other kinds of food: The supply chain of fresh fruits
from the origin to the final customers can also use
RFID to track, to guarantee the quality and nutrition
of the food.
• improve asset visibility and traceability, decrease
reliance on manual processes, reduce operations
costs, and provide useful data for business analytics.
• RFID tags can be used to sense temperature and
integrate it over time to determine the shelf life of
products.

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
References
• http://nfscfaculty.tamu.edu
• www.researchgate.net
• www.crcpress.com
• fst.sagepub.com
• www.radiofrequency.com
• http://www.medwelljournals.com
• http://www.foodqualityandsafety.com

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University Of Sri Jayewardabepura
Thank you