A Review on Applications of Infrared Heating for Food Processing in Comparison to Other Industries

Infrared (IR) heating provides significant advantages over conventional heating, including reduced heating time, uniform heating, reduced quality losses, absence of solute migration in food material, versatile, simple, and compact equipment, and significant energy saving. Infrared heating can be applied to various food processing operations, namely, drying, baking, roasting, blanching, pasteurization, and sterilization. Combinations of IR heating with microwave heating and other common conductive and convective modes of heating have been gaining momentum because of increased energy throughput. This article reviews aspects of IR heating and presents a theoretical basis for IR heat processing of food materials and the interaction of IR radiation with food components. The effect of IR on food quality attributes is discussed in the context of samples and process parameters. Applications of IR heating in food processing operations and future research potential are also reviewed. Since infrared (IR) heating has advantages of energy efficiency, being clean, convenience, fast response, and low investment, IR heating has been widely used in industrial applications – home heaters, furnaces in forging process, hot forming of sheet metal, drying of car paint, and soldering systems. The food industry also has an interest in IR heating technology, and the application of IR heating to food processing has been increasing for baking, blanching, drying, roasting, microbial inactivation, and thawing processes. This paper reviews IR heating technology for food processing. The difference from previous review papers is that this paper deals with IR heating of food processing in comparison to other industries. In this paper, the principle of IR heating, which is shared in all of the applications, and the IR heater design are discussed. The formulation of numerical analysis is also reviewed. Examples of IR heating application for food industry are then reviewed in comparison to other industries.