Date of Award

12-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Food Science and Human Nutrition

Committee Member

William S. Whiteside, Committee Chair

Committee Member

Ron Thomas

Committee Member

Paul Dawson

Committee Member

Taner Baysal

Abstract

Processing foods in a retort is a reliable and established method of creating sterile and shelf stable products. The formula of the product and the package size dictates the processing time. Rotary retorts were invented to agitate cans to reduce the processing times and create uniform heating within the can. Recently, horizontal reciprocating agitation has become a feature of retorts referred to as Gentle Motion® and Shaka®. Oscillating agitation is an even newer possible retort motion. This research experiment was designed to (1) determine the effects of oscillating continuously and oscillating-dwell time on the rate of heat penetration in a pouch compared to static motion and to (2) determine the effect of different viscosities of food simulant within pouches on the rate of heat penetration in the different retort motions as well as to (3) determine the effect of three different amounts of residual air within pouches on the rate of heat penetration in the different retort motions. Seven different retort motions were used in the experiment: static (S), oscillating continuously at 10.5 rotations per minute (RPM) with a 15° angle (O), 10.5 RPM with a dwell time 15 seconds (OH), 6 RPM with a dwell time of 5 seconds (A), 6 RPM with a dwell time of 20 seconds (B), 12 RPM with a dwell time of 5 seconds (C), and 12 RPM with a dwell time of 20 seconds (D). The results of the study showed that there can be optimal relationships between motion, viscosity, and residual air when trying to increase the rate of heat penetration in a pouch.

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