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As an alternate
means to noxious chemicals and radiation treatments, US company
Radio Frequency Company (RFC) is suggesting that manufacturers pasteurise bagged or bulk agricultural products with
its recently developed product: the Macrowave
Pasteurization Systems, which uses radio frequency energy.
Historically, many outbreaks of food-borne illnesses caused by pathogens
such as Salmonella have been attributed to common stomach viruses. More
recently, advances in healthcare and information flow have led to increased
recognition of food-borne illnesses and the ability to trace their sources.
Consequently, throughout the food industry, there
is increasing awareness of the importance of pasteurising
to improve food safety.
RFC's line of Macrowave
Pasteurization Systems was initially developed to produce low-microbe count
flour products, but has recently been expanded to include pasteurising systems for the treatment of nuts, various
types of flour, tobacco, fishmeal, xanthan gum
and other food ingredients as well as finished products.
As radio frequency generators create an alternating electric field between
two electrodes, the material to be treated is conveyed through an electrode
array where this alternating energy causes polar molecules in the material
to continuously reorient themselves to face
opposite poles. The friction resulting from molecular movement causes the
material to heat rapidly and uniformly throughout its entire mass.
The Macrowave Pasteurization Systems operate at
40MHz where the depth of penetration and uniformity of heating are optimised, thereby ensuring effective microbe kill and
avoiding deleterious effects on product quality.
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