Sterilization of Edible Bird Nest Product Utilize Microwave Technology

Abstract

Since the introduction of microwave in the 1940s, the microwave has been an integrated part of the military and communication industries. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States of America, has approved the microwave energy to be used as the thermal processing for packaging food. The new emerging microwave technology has shown to be able to eliminate or sterilize food pathogens and food spoiled microorganisms in 5 to 8, min. Due to the fairly new usage of microwave in the food industry, there are lack of available microwave sterilization pertain to Edible-Bird-Nest (EBN) products. The goal of this research is to design the microwave applicator structure for an industrial sterilization device that is an integral part of the current manufacturing process and can be used to sterilize EBN products. The microwave applicator structure will be designed to be able to eliminate two pathogens, Salmonella species and Escherichia coli (E. coli), and to reduce energy consumption.