ABSTRACT
The infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is extremely useful in food processing in a number of ways:
1. Food processes involving heating 2. Spectroscopic measurement of chemical composition (analyti-
cal applications) of foods 3. Noncontact temperature measurement of foods
Although these three types of applications involve some of the same properties, this chapter is primarily intended for applications of infrared in heating of foods, such as drying (1), baking (2), roasting (3), blanching, and surface pasteurization (4). For applications involving composition measurement, the reader is referred to reviews such as those by Williams and Norris (5) or Buning-Pfaue (6), and for noncontact temperature measurement, to books such as Michalski et al. (7).
