Dielectric loss mechanism of powdered infant formula milk

Dipole loss of main compositions of powdered infant formula milk (PIFM), including whey protein (WP), fat and lactose and the ionic loss of PIFM were analyzed over frequency range of 10 to 3000 MHz at temperature range of 20–80 °C. Dielectric loss factor of PIFM decreased with increasing fat content, while increased with increasing WP content and lactose content at investigated frequencies in our study. The dipole loss of WP, fat and lactose followed Debye equation which increased with increasing frequency till around 1.2,1 and 1 GHz, respectively, and then decreased. Ionic loss of PIFM was constant with increasing frequency at investigated frequencies and increased with increasing temperature. A general formula to calculate ionic loss for both solid and liquid materials was obtained. Validation experiments based on the dielectric loss factor of different compositions indicated that increasing WP proportion in PIFM can increase heating rate in radio frequency field and also result in lower lipid oxidation of treated PIFM. This provides a solution to adjust RF heating performance and product quality based on loss mechanisms of different ingredients.