Temperature uniformity of frozen pork with various combinations of fat and lean portions tempered in radio frequency

Radio frequency (RF) heating has potential commercial application for tempering frozen meat products with the main advantages of rapid and volumetric heating. However, edge-heating and runaway-heating are the main obstacles to large-scale industrial applications. RF tempering uniformity is closely related to the composition and distribution of the samples. In this study, twelve pork samples (8 × 8 × 8 cm3) composed of equal volumes of fat and lean but with different spatial distribution were taken as the research object to study the RF tempering uniformity with computer simulation method. Results showed that the tempering uniformity was closely related to the degree of compositions' aggregation and composition location in the sample. A lower degree of compositions’ aggregation enhanced the RF tempering uniformity for up to 60%. Fat was heated faster than lean meat at the same treatment condition. Fat placed close to the upper electrode of the sample had a better tempering uniformity than that placed close to the lower one, and the maximum decrease of TUI value was 0.071. With the same aggregation degree of equal amount components in the sample, thicker components had a positive impact on the RF tempering uniformity. The findings of this study provided a significant reference for meat industry to effectively apply RF tempering technology.