Development of evaluation software of microbiological safety of food during microwave heating

The objectives of this study were to develop a evaluation software of microbiological safety of food during microwave heating. The information of thermal inactivation kinetics of potential pathogens in food material is essential for proper thermal process design and operation. Mathematical model was developed to predict the thermal inactivation of microorganisms, Salmonella sp. and Listeria innocua, in chicken breast meat during microwave heating. The model was based on three-dimensional heat transfer with appropriate boundary conditions, and microbiological destruction model. The model was solved numerically using the control volume method. Under the unsteady state, thermal inactivation of microorganism was evaluated at various conditions using the developed software with Visual Basic language.