An investigation into corrosion and ions migration from electrodes into food in an ohmic heating system

Ohmic heating has an advantage over conventional indirect heating methods because heater (electrode) surfaces temperatures are comparatively lower as heat is generated within bulk fluid. Conventional ohmic heating under typical low frequency alternating current (50 or 60 Hz) could cause hydrogen and oxygen evolution due to electrolysis of water. This process could develop the electrodes decay or corrosion. Any decay or corrosion of electrodes shorten the life time and contaminate the food. The main objective of this study was to investigate the rate of the electrodes corrosion in the ohmic heating process. For this purpose the concentrations of Fe، Cr، Ni، Mn، and Mo from the stainless steel electrode migrated into ohmic and conventionally treated soup were measured. In this study migration of the major key metal ions from stainless steel measured by Atomic Absorption. The results showed that overall ohmic treatment yielded the same migration residues of all metal ions، compared to the conventional retorting with similar electrodes. Concentrations of all metal ions migrated into food samples after ohmic treatment were far lower than dietary exposure levels so that this technique can ensure the safety and quality of food supplies.