ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of computer-based data acquisition systems for laboratory automation of heat penetration tests in the food canning industry. These tests provide the critical temperature-time data that are required for the design of safe thermal processes used in achieving commercial sterilization of canned foods. In commercial processing operations, only the retort temperature and process time are control variables that can be adjusted. Data loggers are available instruments that can serve as stand-alone strip-chart recorders, but also contain A/D circuit boards for the added flexibility of feeding data directly to a computer for automated data analysis. The chapter describes how the computer simulation model was developed and used in process optimization and on-line computer control applications. It shows the interdependence between thermal inactivation kinetics of bacterial spores and conduction heat transfer in canned foods. The heat required to inactivate bacterial spores for sterilizing canned foods causes thermal degradation of thiamine, a temperature-sensitive first-order reaction with known rate constants.
