Infrared heating of food

Sir William Herschel discovered infrared or heat radiation in the 1800s when he was attempting to determine the part of the visible spectrum with the minimum heat in connection with the astronomical observations he was making.

His experiment Herschel shows that red light had the highest degree of temperature change in the light spectrum; however, infrared heating was not commonly used until World War II.

In 1847 AHL Fizeu and JBL Foucalt showed that infrared radiation has the same properties as visible light.

During World War II infrared heating became more widely used and recognized. Infrared heating was first used in the 1930s for automotive curing applications and rapidly became a widely applied technology in the manufacturing industry.

The used of this technology in the food industry was first reported in the 1950s for drying processes. During the early 1970s there were many discussion about finding new methods for industrial frying/cooking of meat products and the use of near infrared technique started to be discussed.

Infrared heating can be used to inactivate bacteria, spores, yeasts and mold in both liquid and solid foods.

Efficacy of microbial inactivation by infrared heating depends on the following parameters: infrared power level, temperature of food samples, peak wavelength and bandwidth of infrared heating source, sample depth, types of microorganisms, physiso9logical phase of microorganism and types of food materials.
Infrared heating of food