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Concerns of Effective Microwave Cooking

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

The International Association for Food Protection has released a series of presentations dealing with a growing concern among the frozen food industry to address the risks of microwavable foods.  Frozen foods have been the target of many recent foodborne illness outbreaks, including the Jeno’s and Totino’s frozen pizza E. coli outbreak and the Banquet Pot Pie Salmonella outbreak.

At the forefront of addressing the issue of microwavable foods is the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), which has undertaken various measures to eliminate risks associated with frozen foods.  (Lawsuit prevention is most likely the reason for the AFFIs renewed interest in educating consumers about microwave safety.  Interestingly, food manufacturers commonly defend foodborne illness claims by arguing that it was the consumer's fault for not cooking the product correctly.)

AFFI has developed a guide entitled “Cooking with Microwave Ovens, Nutrition and Food Safety Considerations” which offers consumers ways to prepare nutritious meals with a microwave oven.  AFFI has also been working with microwave manufacturers and various organizations to develop better labeling for microwavable products to account for various power ratings and options on the ovens.

Not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) foods pose one of the biggest concerns to safe microwaving, because if not cooked properly, they are not completely safe to consume and may contain foodborne pathogens.  A group from the Grocery Manufacturers Association has developed guidelines to validate cooking instructions on NRTE foods to make sure that when cooked following the instructions, the food is safe to eat.

The greatest concern about providing the safest cooking instructions revolves around issues with microwave technology itself, and its incapacity to provide uniform heating throughout food.  Uneven cooking allows for hot and cold spots within the food.  It also allows for the failure to inactivate certain pathogens in the food.  Most research shows that heating in microwaves is the primary mode for the inactivation of pathogens, so it is quite important to solve the problem of uneven cooking.

The presentations address a variety of areas that affect uneven heating:

• Non-uniform distribution of dipolar molecules and ionic materials within the food.

• Differences in microwave absorption of frozen/thawed areas.

• Product/component edge heating effects.

• Areas of high and low microwave field strength within the oven cavity and product.

• Different food component and thermal properties.

There are many ways to improve the safety of microwavable products, and doing so will greatly reduce the risk of outbreak of foodborne illnesses related to these products.  As is shown, there is much research and thought going into the betterment of these products to ensure safer products for consumers to prepare.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).