Software for the determination of the time and the f value in the thermal processing of packaged foods using the modified ball method

Abstract

The software provided in a simple and agile way the time/F value of thermal processing of packaged foods. The objective of this research was to develop a software to perform the calculations of thermal processing of foods based on the Ball´s original modified formula method, which was based on the discrepancies already identified. To check the validity of the equation of Ball’s original formula modified, both formulas were compared with the tabulated data by Ball and programs were developed to evaluate the thermal process with this new modified equation. Differences were found ranging approximately between 0.03% and 4% with the tabulated data. From the linear regression analysis for the different C values for the range of z values from 14 to 26 °F the coefficients of determination are close to unity, so this could be taken into account as an alternative model to the equation, which was raised almost a century ago.