2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Decontamination of microorganism by superheated water

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20780184
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Agricultural environmental engineering
Research Institution	National Agricultural Research Organization
Principal Investigator	SOTOME Itaru National Agricultural Research Organization, 食品総合研究所, 任期付研究員 (90469833)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2009
Keywords	ポストハーベスト工学 / 殺菌
Research Abstract	In this study, decontamination of food surface by superheated water has been investigated. The superheated water was generated by discharging the water that was heated under high pressure (0.3~0.4 MPa) up to near the boiling temperature through a nozzle. The surface temperature of food sample could increase to 110~115oC by applying the superheated water before bumping of the water, which was enabled by optimizing the temperature and pressure inside the nozzle and the distance between the nozzle and the sample. In some trials, the superheated water presented higher decontamination effect than boiling water at 100oC against the heat resistant spore on food surface that was wrapped with poly-ethylene film.