ABSTRACT
Radio-frequency (RF) heating is a potential alternative to conventional heating, as heat is generated within the product through molecular vibrations that occur in response to the oscillation of the electromagnetic eld, in a manner similar to microwave (MW) heating. RF heating is highly effective for food particles with large dimensions, because low frequencies (i.e., 27.12 MHz) allow greater penetration depth than other forms of dielectric methods. RF heating has been applied to the pasteurization of sausage meat emulsions (Houben et al., 1991) and cured hams (Bengtsson et al., 1970; Ryynänen, 1995). RF heating can reduce the cooking time by up to 90% in whole and minced beef (Laycock et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2004).
