Novel Thermal Processing of Packaged Egg White Powder

Packaged egg white powder (PEWP) is traditionally processed in a hot room at 60°C for 14 days to enhance the safety and functionality. Thus, the traditional hot room processing method is too long and consumes more energy. In this study, continuous radiofrequency assisted thermal processing (CRFATP) of PEWP was investigated with an objective of determining the come-up times, evaluating heating uniformity, quality and functionality. The come-up times under radiofrequency heating (RFH) to increase the temperature of PEWP from 23°C to 90°C was 40 min, however, the temperature could not reach 90°C in hot air oven maintained at 93°C. Temperature increase inside the PEWP was slower in moving condition than that in the stationary condition. The maximum temperature difference among the locations within package in stationary and moving conditions was about 15°C. The coldest and hottest locations under stationery and moving conditions were different for RFH of the PEWP. Package processing of EWP with RF power not affected the color adversely. The foaming capacity of EWP at all the processing conditions except at CRFATP condition of 90°C for 16 h was not significantly different with that of the traditional processing condition. However, the processed PEWP at 90°C for 16 h lost its foaming property. Water holding capacity (WHC) of both the package processing conditions i.e., 80°C for 16 h and 90°C for 16 h have produced the gels of significantly higher WHC compared to that of the traditionally processed EWP. The functional properties of the EWP under batch mode processing and package mode processing were different at 90°C for 16 h. The study presented temperature profiles in PEWP which may be used to validate the physics-based models for packaged product processing and study may serve as a reference for PEWP processing.