Developing novel microwave-assisted induction heating (MAIH) technology for heating in-packaged ready-to-eat chicken breast products

This study employed a novel microwave-assisted induction heating (MAIH) system—a dual heating system integrating microwave and electromagnetic induction from above and below, respectively, to heat the pre-packaged chicken breast under controlled temperatures of 100 °C for 100 to 140 s and 80 °C for 120 to 160 s, and to evaluate the microbiological and physicochemical qualities of the samples. The results showed that the microbial counts, a*, and b* values decreased with increasing heating time. Conversely, the L*, W, ΔE values, hardness, and chewiness increased with increasing heating time. Moreover, chicken breasts prepared under conditions of 100 °C for 130 s and 140 s or 80 °C for 150 s and 160 s using MAIH exhibited a cooked appearance with no microbial growth detected. Compared to traditionally boiled chicken breasts, they showed similar color, texture, and cooking loss values. In addition, the sensory evaluation scores of samples subjected to the two MAIH treatment conditions were higher compared to those of traditionally boiled samples.

Industrial relevance

The MAIH facility is a new thermal processing technique and supplied the effective pasteurization, reduced heating time, and enhanced total quality of ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken breast. This study was the first to utilize MAIH to rapidly prepare pre-packaged RTE chicken breast cubes, achieving at least a one-third reduction in heating time compared to the traditional boiling method.