ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews ohmic heating in relation to mechanisms and kinetics contributing to microbial death. Ohmic or electrical resistance heating involves an application of a low-voltage alternating current to a continuously flowing food product. Ohmic process can deliver high quality food particles with good integrity and microbiological safety. Ohmic heating could also produce better quality highly viscous and heat-sensitive food products than conventional heating for the same reason of internal heat generation. More studies also suggest that a mild electrical permeation mechanism may be at play during ohmic heating. Nonthermal lethal effect of ohmic treatment may be due to the low frequency of ohmic heating, which allows cell walls to build up charges and form pores. Ohmic heating offers an attractive alternative, because it heats materials by internal heat generation, but without some of the nonuniformities commonly associated with microwave heating.
