The non-thermal effects of microwave food processing

The thermal effect of microwave radiation is well known. Based on the selective heating characteristics of microwave radiation, people have developed microwave ovens, microwave thawing equipments, drying and sterilization equipments, which are widely used in food processing. However, the question whether non-thermal effects of microwave radiation existed has always been the focus of debate. In recent years, researchers home and abroad took biological systems such as biological macromolecules or microorganisms as test objects to test and verify the non-thermal effects of microwave. From the current researches, the existence or not of the microwave non-thermal effects, is not ready to make a conclusion. The reason includes: the complexity of biological systems; the difficulty to control the temperature during the experiment; the lack of rationality and logic during experiment design. Whatever, the extensive and in-depth understanding of microwave non-thermal effects, is a reliable guarantee for the development of microwave equipments, and will create possibility for further application of microwave technology in deep processing of food products.