Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Advances in radio frequency and ohmic heating of meats

B.M. McKenna *, J. Lyng, N. Brunton, N. Shirsat
Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agri-Food and the Environment, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

Accepted 6 June 2005

Available online 9 September 2005

Abstract

Interest in both radio frequency (RF) and ohmic heating of foods has increased in recent years. In particular, their application to
meat products has been investigated. A critical factor is the dielectric constants of the products being heated. These have been mea-
sured for meats. In particular, the dielectric constant e 0 , dielectric loss factor e00 , thermal heat capacity cp, thermal conductivity k and
thermal diffusivity a of two local comminuted meat products of differing diameters, both pork based, (pork luncheon roll PLR and
white pudding WP) were measured between 5 and 85 C. Radio frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) e00 values varied across 5–
85 C (P < 0.05). Microwave e 0 and e00 values for WP tended to peak at 45 C and decrease thereafter, whereas for PLR, e 0 and
e00 peaked at 65 C which appeared to match potato starch gelatinisation within this product. WP and PLR had significantly higher
cp values at 25 C, which corresponded to the melting point of pork fat. At 85 C, k values were higher (P < 0.05) than at 5, 25 and
45 C but were not higher than values at 65 C. Thermal diffusivity a values increased with temperature (P < 0.05).
For ohmic heating, the electrical conductivity becomes the controlling variable. Efficacy of ohmic processing can be influenced by
the conductivities of individual components within the food and their behaviour and interactions during the heating process. Conduc-
tivity measurements on pork cuts indicated that lean is highly conductive compared to fat and addition of fat to lean reduced the over-
all conductivity but the addition of fat over the range (i.e. 0–100%) was non-linear. Light microscopy suggested that differences in the
conductivities of leg and shoulder lean (entire) (0.76 vs. 0.64 S m1, respectively) could be due to the denser muscle fibre structure and/
or higher intra-muscular fat in the shoulder vs. the leg meat. This could be of significance for ohmic processing of full muscle products.
Of course, for both forms of heating, the quality of the heated product becomes the critical factor. The effect of radio frequency
cooking, on the quality (assessed by cook yield, water holding capacity texture profile analysis, penetration test, Warner–Bratzler
shear, colour and sensory evaluation) and cooking time of two types of pork products (leg ham and shoulder ham) were compared
to steam cooked samples. RF cooking of the hams resulted in a shorter cooking time. Instrumental measurements indicated that RF
heated samples had a higher cook yield (P < 0.05), but a lower water holding capacity (P < 0.05). Texture profile analysis indicated
that RF cooked samples were harder (P < 0.05), particularly for leg hams. A sensory panel also indicated that panellists could dis-
tinguish between radio frequency and steam cooked samples (P < 0.05).
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ohmic; Radio frequency; Heating; Comminuted pork

1. Introduction most large diameter sausage type cooked meat products

Marketing information indicates that in recent times
supermarket sales for cooked meats in Ireland have
grown substantially (Roebig, 2003a, 2003b). Currently
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +353 1 716 7714; fax: +353 1 716
1147.
E-mail address: b.mckenna@ucd.ie (B.M. McKenna).
are thermally pasteurised by steam or hot water immer-
sion cooking. A major problem in the cooking of meats
in this way is the low rate of heat penetration to the ther-
mal centre. This in turn leads to long cooking times and
can often lead to the outer layers of the meat receiving a
more severe heat exposure than the centre which can
potentially result in a reduction in the quality of the
outer regions of such products.

0260-8774/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2005.06.052
216 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229
1.1. Radio frequency heating (RF)
RF heating is a promising alternative to conventional
methods of heat processing as it is regarded as a volu-
metric form of heating in which heat is generated within
the product, which reduces cooking times and could
potentially lead to a more uniform heating. RF heating
may be especially effective for large diameter foodstuffs
such as meat products because the low frequency
(27.12 MHz) of the incident electromagnetic radiation
allows greater penetration depths than other forms of
dielectric heating such as microwave heating.
RF heating could be particularly suitable for heat
processing of cured whole meat products such as hams
as the principle mode of heating occurs via depolarisa-
tion of solvated ions (Ryynänen, 1995) which are partic-
ularly plentiful in a product to which curing salts
have been added. In the past RF heating has been
applied to the pasteurisation of sausage meat emulsions
(Houben, Schoenmakers, van Putten, van Roon, &
Krol, 1991) and cured hams (Bengtsson, Green, & Del
Valle, 1970) and has even found commercial application
with the development of a method for the continuous
production of cooked meats by Tulip International
AS Denmark and APV. More recently Laycock, Piya-
sena, and Mittal (2003) reported that RF heating at
27.12 MHz could serve to reduce cooking times by up
to 90% in whole, minced and comminuted beef. How-
ever the eating quality and particularly the texture of
some of the products was adversely affected. Whilst
the technology is undoubtedly capable of fast and effi-
cient pasteurisation of meat products (Laycock et al.,
2003; van Roon, Houben, Koolmees, van Vilet, & Krol,
1994; Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004), aside from the
work of Laycock et al. (2003) limited information is
available as to the quality of meat products produced
by this method. Much of the past work on RF pasteuri-
sation of meat products has involved the application of
RF to uncased meats (Houben et al., 1991; Laycock
et al., 2003; van Roon et al., 1994) which had the advan-
tage of reducing packaging costs for processors but in-
creased the risk of post process contamination and
potentially reduced yield due to juice losses from
unpackaged hot products. The principle objectives of
the present study were to develop a method for RF pas-
teurisation of a large diameter cased meat product and
to subsequently compare selected instrumental and sen-
sory quality attributes of these RF pasteurised products
with a conventionally pasteurised product.
1.2. Ohmic heating
There is a renewed interest in ohmic heating with
increasing consumer demands for a minimally processed
range of safer, wholesome and nutritious convenience
food products (Manvell, 1997). In addition, electro-
technologies for food processing are cleaner, more envi-
ronmentally friendly and energy efficient than conven-
tional methods currently in use. In a review of the
application of electro-technologies, Jamieson and Wil-
liamson (1999) postulated that ohmic, microwave and
radio frequency are the most promising technologies
for electro-heating on an industrial scale. Ohmic pro-
cessing, sometimes described as resistive heating,
consists of passing mains alternating current directly
through a conductive food, which in turn leads to heat
generation. Because heating accompanies the current,
heat distribution throughout the product is far more ra-
pid and even, which in turn can result in better flavour
retention and particulate integrity compared to conven-
tional processes (Skudder, 1993). The efficiency of ohmic
heating is dependent on the conductive nature of the
food to be processed (Zoltai & Swearingen, 1996) and
hence a knowledge of the conductivity of the food as a
whole and its components is essential in designing a suc-
cessful heating process.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Radio frequency heating
2.1.1. Pork ham manufacture
Boned pork legs/shoulders were obtained from a lo-
cal meat plant 48 hours after slaughter. Excess fat and
connective tissues were trimmed from the meat and
the pH measured. Leg and shoulders muscles were then
injected to 115% and 125% of their initial weights
respectively with two different brine solutions (Table 1)
using a single needle injector (Model No. BGM3, Eddie
Fahey Ltd, Ireland). The injection levels were designed
to give the following final concentration of ingredients
(% of weight or ppm as appropriate) in the injected
meat: sodium chloride: 2%, dextrose: 0.2%, sodium
ascorbate: 0.05% and sodium nitrite: 100 ppm. The in-
jected pork was subsequently tumbled in a vacuum tum-
bler (Model No. MC-25, Inject Star of the Americas
Inc., USA) for 12 h (4 C) at 15 rpm with a cycle of
30 min on and 30 min off and a residual pressure of
339 mbar. After tumbling, the meat was shaped into
1 kg joints by insertion into elasticated netting using a
cylindrical plastic tube (9 cm diameter). The netted
joints were then placed in plastic casings (Walsrode
K-Plus, Casetech GMBH, Germany) and sealed at the
ends with plastic cable ties. Three batches of leg and
shoulder hams were prepared with 8 · 1 kg joints in each
batch.
2.1.2. Development of RF cooking protocols for leg
and shoulder pork hams
All RF heated products were processed in a custom-
ized RF oven (Capenhurst Technologies Ltd., England)
 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229 217

Table 1
Texture profile analysis (TPA), penetration test (PT) and Warner–Bratzler (WB) results of leg and shoulder ham cooked by radio frequency (RF) and
steam (ST)
Product Texture profile analysis Penetration test Warner–Bratzler
Hardness Hardness Cohesiveness Springiness Chewiness Gumminess (N) Maximum Elastic Maximum
1 (N) 2 (N) (mm) (N mm) load (N) behaviour load (N)
(mm)
Leg RF 90.46a 78.37a 0.384a 6.73a 233.8a 34.74a 16.83a 14.71a 29.29a
Leg ST 76.15b 66.26b 0.400a 7.07a 215.4a 30.46a 13.36b 13.36a 25.54b
Shoulder RF 51.18c 42.34c 0.383a 7.02a 137.6b 19.60b 9.73c 9.73b 25.81b
Shoulder ST 43.49c 36.22c 0.379a 6.76a 114.4b 16.48b 8.21d 8.21b 23.26c
a–d
Means in the same column with different letters are different (P < 0.05).

using a polyethylene circulating water cell as described
by Zhang, Lyng, and Brunton (2004). Temperatures
during RF heating were recorded and monitored as
hams were heated from 5 to 73 C using Fluoroptic
thermometry (Model No. 790, Luxtron Corporation,
USA.). Within each batch of both leg and shoulder
hams, four joints were cooked by RF for each of three
batches.
2.1.3. Steam (ST) cooked hams
Samples for ST processing were prepared as described
in Section 2.1.1 above and cooked in a thermostatically
controlled KERRES smoke-air ST oven (Model No.
CS 350, Raicher-und-Kochanlagen, Germany) set at
80 C for 2 h and 30 min. Product and oven temperatures
were recorded during cooking at three points within the
roll at 30 s intervals using a data logger (Model No. 1600,
Grant Instruments Ltd., England) and type T thermo-
couples. Four joints of leg or shoulder hams were cooked
within each of three batches.
2.1.4. Temperature distribution following RF or ST
cooking
Temperature distributions within products after RF or
ST heating were determined by placing the product in a
specially constructed thermocouple jig as described previ-
ously (Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004). From the time-
temperature data recorded during RF and ST cooking,
pasteurisation units (PU60) and cook values (Cs100) were
calculated. Weights were recorded for each uncooked
ham joint and after cooking and cooling to 5 C. Cook
yield was calculated as a percentage of initial weight.
2.1.5. Textural measurements
An Instron Universal Testing Machine (Model No.
5544, Instron Corporation, England) was used in con-
junction with the Merlin software package (Version
2019) for all texture measurements. Samples were pre-
pared as described in a previous communication (Zhang,
Lyng, & Brunton, 2004). Texture profile analysis was
conducted using the methods of Bourne (1978). Penetra-
tion tests were carried out using a procedure described
by Cavestany, Jiménez-Colminero, Solas, and Carballo
(1994) while Warner–Bratzler analysis was in accor-
dance with the method described by Dreeling, Allen,
and Butler (1997). For each of the analyses, six repli-
cates were taken per roll per treatment.
2.1.6. Water holding capacity (WHC) measurements
WHC was measured by a modified centrifugal proce-
dure and the calculation equations of Lianji and Chen
(1989). Prior to analysis casings were removed from all
samples. Samples (10 g) were cored from slices (20 mm
in width) of ham using a cork borer. The samples were
wrapped in a square piece of cheesecloth and placed in
pre-weighed plastic centrifuge tubes, which had been
one third filled with cotton wool. The samples were then
centrifuged for 15 min at 10,000 rpm and at a tempera-
ture of 4 C. Following centrifugation, the solid material
was carefully emptied into a ceramic weighing dish and
weighed.
2.1.7. Colour measurements
Samples for colour measurement were prepared as
described in Section 2.1.4 above. A chroma meter
(Model No. CR-300, Minolta (UK) Limited, England)
was used to determine Hunter L* (lightness), a* (red-
ness/greenness) and b* (yellowness/blueness) from which
the hue angle (H) and the saturation (S) were calculated.
2.1.8. Sensory analysis
Sensory evaluation of leg and shoulder hams cooked
by radio frequency or steam oven was carried out using
a similarity test according to the method of Meilgaard,
Civille, and Carr (1991) to determine whether or not pan-
ellists could differentiate between the two treatments.
2.1.9. Dielectric measurements
Dielectric properties of raw and cooked ham were
measured at an RF frequency of 27.12 MHz and
room temperature (23 C) using an open-ended co-axial
probe (Capenhust Technologies, UK) connected to a
HP Network Analyzer (Model No. 8714ET Agilent
Technologies, USA) using the method described by
218 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229
Zhang, Lyng, Brunton, Morgan, and McKenna (2004).
Measurements at microwave frequencies (300 and
2450 MHz) were carried out in an identical manner
using an Agilent Technologies open-ended co-axial
probe (Model No. 85070C) with accompanying software
(Version C1-02, Agilent Technologies).
2.2. Ohmic heating
2.2.1. Meat preparation
Fresh pork cuts of leg (topside), shoulder (picnic),
back fat and belly from three pigs were procured (within
72 h of slaughter) from a local meat processing factory.
The pork cuts were trimmed to separate lean from fat
and sinews so as to ensure the conductivities of 100% vi-
sual lean and 100% visual fat from each cut could be
determined. Cuts from each animal were kept separately
and each animal was assigned as a batch. Samples were
minced and proximate analysis was carried out using the
methods of Soderberg (1995). For salt content, the
method of Fox (1963) was used.
2.2.2. Measurement of conductivity in pork cuts
Entire pieces of lean and fat cuts (5 cm long and
2.7 cm diameter) were prepared using a specially de-
signed tool (similar to a large cork borer). The entire
specimen of lean cuts were prepared by sectioning, as
far possible, in the direction of the muscle fibres to avoid
any possible variation in the conductivity due to the ori-
entation of fibres. In sectioning fat no such precautions
were taken. Minced samples (5 mm) for conductivity
measurements were prepared as outlined in Shirsat,
Brunton, Lyng, and McKenna (2004) and Shirsat,
Brunton, Lyng, McKenna, and Scannell (2004). A range
of samples, from 100% minced lean up to 100% minced
fat were prepared by hand mixing thoroughly and then
vacuum packing prior to their use for conductivity
measurements.
Fig. 1. Circuit diagram for electrical conductivity measurement cell.
A conductivity cell (Fig. 1) was constructed from a
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe, 5 cm long and 2.65 cm
(i.d.) diameter. Specially designed screw caps, fitted with
high grade (316) stainless steel electrodes, were used to
seal the ends of the tube. An opening was provided in
the centre of the tube for the insertion of a thermocou-
ple (Type T, TM Electronics, UK). Temperature was
recorded with a Digitron meter (Model No. 2751-K,
Digitron Instrumentation Ltd., UK). Voltage and cur-
rent were monitored with a digital multimeter (Model
No. UNI-T M3900, ALTAI, UK). Variable power sup-
ply was derived from a 25 V transformer connected to
Variac Duratrak (Model No. V6HPT, The Claude
Lyons Group, UK).
The conductivity cell constant was determined by
LevittÕs method (1954) using 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3
and 0.5 M KCl (Analar, BDH Chemicals Ltd.,UK)
solutions as the reference standards. The conductivity
of each concentration of reference electrolyte was
checked using a conductivity meter (Model No.
WTW-LF 92, TetraCon 96, Germany) to ensure that
the measured conductivity values corresponded with
published values (CRC, 1996). The calibration was val-
idated using 0.02, 0.05 and 0.17 M solutions of NaCl
(Merck KGaA, Germany). For each sample three read-
ings were taken.
In the case of the whole meat pieces, cylindrical
pieces (50 g) were placed between the electrodes in the
conductivity cell. Every effort was made to ensure that
the pieces were positioned in such a way that the mus-
cle fibres ran parallel to the electric field (i.e. longitudi-
nally). This was done to avoid possible variation in the
conductivity due to the orientation of muscle fibres as
seen in liquid particulate systems, where particle orien-
tation with respect to electrical field has been shown to
have a significant effect on the conductivities of solids
(De Alwis & Fryer, 1990; Sastry & Palaniappan,
1992). In contrast, fat pieces were randomly packed
 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229
in the conductivity cell with no regard for fat cell orien-
tation. When the conductivity cell was sealed with
screw caps, the sample was compressed between the
electrodes to expel any air within the cell through the
opening provided for the temperature probe. Samples
of minced portions of lean and fat were packed into
the conductivity cell, tapping intermittently with a me-
tal plunger to ensure no air pockets were formed. As
before when the conductivity cell was sealed, any air
along with excess sample was expelled through the
opening provided for the temperature probe. All con-
ductivity and ohmic heating experiments were carried
out at 3.6 V cm1 and a frequency of 50 Hz with the
product at 20 C.
2.2.3. Light microscopy
Samples of lean leg (topside) and shoulder (picnic)
from four different pig carcases were taken within an
hour of slaughter and immediately fixed in 10% buffered
formalin solution (Disbrey & Rack, 1970) for 24 h.
The tissues were routinely processed in a Shandon
2LE Tissue Processor (Shandon Southern Products
Ltd., UK). Blocks of tissue measuring approximately
15 mm · 15 mm · 5 mm were selected in such a way as
to allow transverse and longitudinal sectioning of
muscle fibres. The blocks were placed in a labelled
‘‘Tissue-Tek’’ (Ames Division Miles laboratories Inc.,
USA) processing cassette and then into a tissue proces-
sor (Disbrey & Rack, 1970; Drury & Wallington, 1967).
At the end of the process, tissues were removed from the
tissue processor and ‘‘blocked out’’ in fresh wax (BDH,
UK) in Tissue-Tek moulds with the labelled cassette
bases attached to them. The wax blocks were allowed
to solidify on a cold plate (Shandon Southern Products
Ltd., UK) prior to sectioning. The tissue blocks were
mounted on a Leitz rotary microtome (Ernest Leitz,
Wetzlar GMBH, Austria) and 5 lm thick sections were
cut. These were floated onto the surface of a Paraffin
Section Mounting Bath at 54 C (Shandon Southern
Products Ltd., UK) to remove the compression effects
of sectioning and mounted onto labelled glass slides.
Sections were dried in an oven (MEDITE, Medizintach-
nik, Germany) overnight at 56 C before staining.
Sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin
(Drury & Wallington, 1967).
Light microscopy (Model No. Labophot-2, Nikon,
Japan) was used to examine transverse sections of leg
and shoulder muscles for the transverse diameter of
the muscle fibres and longitudinal sections for intra-
muscular fat and images were recorded using a digital
video camera (Model No. 3-JCDKY-F55B, Victor com-
pany Ltd., Japan). Sites (10 in each specimen) were se-
lected at random and measured for the area (lm2) of
inter-muscular fat. ANOVA was used to assess whether
significant differences existed between the intermuscular
fat content of leg and shoulder lean.
219
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Radio frequency heating
3.1.1. Cooking time
Typical time temperature profiles for RF heated pork
leg and shoulder hams cooked at 500 W with water
circulating at 80 C and a steam oven sample (ST)
cooked at 80 C are presented in Fig. 2a and b (temper-
ature and Cs100) and Fig. 3a and b (temperature and
PU60) respectively.
In order to achieve an end point temperature in ex-
cess of 73 C at the coldest point for RF cooked leg
and shoulder hams, a cooking time of 40 min was re-
quired. Following this, samples were left in the circulat-
ing water heating cell for an additional 2 min with the
RF power turned off to ensure the product was held
above 73 C for 2 min. For ST cooked samples a total
cooking time of 127 min was required to ensure samples
were held above 73 C for 2 min. Therefore ham cook-
ing times could be reduced by 75% with the application
of RF, which is in line with previous observations (from
this laboratory) on a comminuted meat product of sim-
ilar size in a similar cell where cooking times were re-
duced by 79% (Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004).
Bengtsson et al. (1970) using a cell similar in design to
that of the present study (but with static vs. circulating
water) at 60 MHz found cooking times for small cured
ham (1 kg) could be reduced by 66% compared to
hot water immersion at 85 C. Other work has indicated
that for uncased beef muscle, RF cooking times could be
reduced by 90% when compared to water bath cooked
samples (Laycock et al., 2003). However, the beef sam-
ples were processed at 744 W as compared to 500 W in
the present study. The RF power used in the present
study was limited by the maximum power output of
the RF generator used (600 W) and by the occasional
occurrence of burning of casing at RF powers greater
than 550 W. The authors are anxious to point out that
RF cooking of cased meats at powers above 550 W
may be possible. However, further understanding lead-
ing to modification of the RF heating protocol may be
required to eliminate this problem.
Cooking protocols developed in the present study
were based on heating all parts of the product above
73 C for 2 min. This was achieved in all samples though
it is worth noting however, that PU60 values were sub-
stantially lower in RF cooked hams for both the leg
and shoulder (Fig. 2a and b). Furthermore while appli-
cation of RF can result in reduction of cooking times,
RF cooking protocols developed in this way produced
products with lower Cs100 values than steam cooked
controls. For example Fig. 3a and b demonstrates that
both RF cooked shoulder and leg hams had lower
Cs100 values suggesting that less heat induced chemical
changes would have occurred in the sample.
220 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229

Fig. 2. Time vs. temperature and time vs. PU profiles for radio frequency (RF) and steam (ST) cooked meat (a) leg and (b) shoulder hams.

3.1.2. End point temperature (EPT) distribution
Typical EPT distributions for leg and shoulder hams
cooked by RF and ST methods are shown in Fig. 4a–d.
For both RF cooked hams the temperature difference be-
tween the hottest and coldest points (DT) was 8 C while
this figure was 6 C for both steam cooked samples. As
previously stated RF cooking is in theory a volumetric
method of heating with all parts of the product receiving
equal amounts of heat and therefore, theoretically, tem-
perature differentials should not develop. However, this
will only be the case if the product to be heated is com-
pletely dielectrically homogeneous (Reuter, 1993) which
would not be the case for whole meat product such as a
ham. In a previous study we reported that an RF cooked
comminuted meat product had a DT of up to 10 C
(Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004). Although the values
in the current study were of a similar order of magnitude
to those observed by Zhang, Lyng, and Brunton (2004),
one would expect the dielectric homogeneity of a commi-
nuted meat product to be greater that that of a whole
muscle and for that homogeneity to be reflected in the
DT of the sample. In any case DTÕs for the hams were
slightly lower than the value of 12–15 C reported by
Bengtsson et al. (1970) and the value of 10.7 C reported
by Laycock et al. (2003) for whole beef muscle. These
authors also reported that DT for a comminuted beef
product was considerably greater that that of a whole
muscle product (19.6 C vs. 10.7 C) which is broadly in
agreement with the findings of the present study and
those of Zhang, Lyng, and Brunton (2004).
 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229 221

Fig. 3. Time vs. temperature, and time vs. Cs profiles for radio frequency (RF) and steam (ST) cooked meat (a) leg and (b) shoulder hams.

For steam cooked leg and shoulder hams, the coldest
points were located at the geometrical centre. RF
cooked leg hams had a cold spot near the geometric cen-
tre but also appeared to have a second cold spot slightly
to the right of the geometric centre while RF cooked
shoulder hams also appeared to have a cold spot to
the centre and another to the right, though the central
cold spot appears to extend downwards to the bottom
left. In a previous study the current authors also re-
ported that the cold spot for RF cooked comminuted
meat samples was located at locations other than the
geometric centre (Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004). A
more in depth study using a greater number of thermo-
couple measurement points and infra red thermometry
would be required before definite conclusions can be
made in this regard.
3.1.3. Instrumental texture analysis: Effect of muscle type
on Instrumental texture attributes
Instrumental texture results are presented in Table 1.
Within muscle type, RF cooked leg hams had signifi-
cantly higher texture profile analysis hardness 1 and 2
and also higher penetration test and Warner–Bratzler
maximum loads than their steam cooked counterparts.
For shoulder hams, significant differences (P < 0.05)
were only noted in penetration test and Warner–Bratzler
maximum loads and were not found in any of the
texture profile analysis attributes assessed (P P 0.05).
222 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229

Fig. 4. Typical end-point temperature distribution profile of (a) radio frequency (RF) cooked shoulder, (b) steam (ST) cooked shoulder, (c) RF
cooked leg and (d) ST cooked leg hams.

However, the RF cooked shoulder samples had on aver-
age higher values for all texture profile analysis param-
eters assessed. Overall, compared to shoulder ham, leg
ham had higher texture profile analysis hardness (1
and 2), chewiness, gumminess and also higher penetra-
tion test maximum load and elastic behaviour than
shoulder hams (P < 0.05). Zhang, Lyng, and Brunton
(2004) also reported significant differences (P < 0.001)
between RF and steam cooked comminuted luncheon
roll in attributes such as texture profile analysis (Hard-
ness 1 and 2 (with RF again being higher than steam),
Energies 1 and 2, Gumminess, Chewiness) and Kramer
shear compression load. The RF system and method
of application used were identical to the system used
in the present case, though the product was a highly
comminuted emulsion. In addition it is worth nothing
that van Roon et al. (1994) reported that dynamic rheo-
logical measurements demonstrated RF cooked meat
 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229 223

doughs had higher storage and loss moduli and that the
samples fractured at higher stress values. While rheolog-
ical parameters cannot be compared directly with TPA
results presented here, the former authors stated that
the results reported above indicated the samples were fir-
mer. In contrast, Laycock et al. (2003) reported no sig-
nificant difference (P P 0.05) in any of the TPA
parameters assessed between RF vs. waterbath cooked
whole beef muscle samples. The reason for this differ-
ence is not clear. However, the meat product and RF
cooking system used by Laycock et al. (2003) were
substantially different to that used in the present case.
Brunton et al. (2005) also reported no significant differ-
ence (P P 0.05) in Kramer shear, texture profile analysis
and penetration test values of the small diameter commi-
nuted sausage type product (white pudding). These
workers used the same RF oven to that used in the pres-
ent study, though a different cooking cell was used, and
product size was smaller (0.2 kg vs. 1 kg) compared to
that of the present study or that used by Zhang, Lyng,
and Brunton (2004).
3.2. Dielectric properties of leg and shoulder hams
Results of dielectric property measurements (dielec-
tric constant e 0 , dielectric loss factor e00 , and penetration
depth (Dp)) at 27.12 MHz and 2450 MHz are given in
Table 2. No significant difference was noted between
raw leg and shoulder in any of the dielectric properties
examined (P P 0.05). One possible explanation for this
is that the proximate composition of leg and shoulder
are not significantly different (Table 2) and composition
has been previously shown to effect dielectric properties
(Lyng, Scully, McKenna, Hunter, & Molloy, 2002;
Zhang, Lyng, Brunton, Morgan et al., 2004). Dielectric
properties measured following injection indicated over-
all that e00 values at both frequencies were significantly
higher (P < 0.05) and Dp values significantly lower
(P < 0.05) than the values prior to injection. In fact at
27.12 MHz, a 3.6–4.8 fold increase in e00 was observed
while for 2450 MHz the increase was less pronounced
(2.3–2.4 fold). However, when injected and raw meats
were compared in terms of e 0 , trends were less consistent,
with no obvious pattern evident at 27.12 MHz, though
at 2450 MHz, e 0 was significantly higher for injected
samples. Within injected samples, when leg and shoulder
are compared, significant differences in e 0 , e00 and Dp
were only found at 27.12 MHz, with shoulders having
higher e 0 and Dp values and lower e00 values (P < 0.05).
At 27.12 MHz e00 values are more strongly related
to the ionic content of the sample than values at
2450 MHz (Roebuck & Goldblith, 1972) and as Table
2 shows, the ash content of the leg were slightly though
significantly higher than that of the shoulder samples
(P < 0.05). Overall when dielectric properties are com-
pared between injected and cooked samples, cooking re-
duced e00 at 27.12 MHz and 2450 MHz and e 0 at
2450 MHz. However, changes in e 0 at 27.12 MHz were
inconsistent. When the effect of cooking method is
examined, significant differences between ST and RF
cooked samples were only found in e00 and Dp measure-
ments at 27.12 MHz, with RF cooked samples having
higher e00 and lower Dp values at this frequency. It is very
difficult to relate the differences in dielectric properties
to the gross composition of the samples as very few dif-
ferences were noted in the compositional properties be-
tween RF and ST cooked samples, with the only
significant difference being in the moisture content of
shoulder which was significantly higher in RF cooked
samples (P P 0.05). Therefore the differences observed
in dielectric properties may be more related to the man-
ner in which water and dissolved substances are bound
within the samples than the actual gross composition
of the samples.
3.2.1. Colour analysis
Results of instrumental colour analysis are presented
in Table 3. RF cooked leg hams had significantly higher
Hunter a* values and lower Hue angles than ST cooked
leg hams (P < 0.001). In a previous study the current

Table 2
Dielectric properties of ham at microwave (2450 MHz) and radio frequencies (27.12 MHz) measured at 25 C
Product Treatment Dielectric constant Loss factor Penetration depth (cm)
27.12 MHz 2450 MHz 27.12 MHz 2450 MHz 27.12 MHz 2450 MHz
Leg Raw 88.8bc 55.5b 483.9f 17.4c 12a 1.7a
Shoulder Raw 92.6b 55.0b 482.6f 16.8c 12a 1.7a
Leg Injected (Inj) 81.6d 56.3a 2299.5a 41.6a 5e 0.74c
Shoulder Inj 107.6a 59.1a 1779.6b 39.0a 6f 0.80c
Leg Inj and RF cooked 84.5cd 47.3c 1375.1c 25.1b 6.9d 1.1b
Leg Inj and ST cooked 87.3c 45.3c 1242.7d 25.2b 7.3bc 1.1b
Shoulder Inj and RF cooked 86.0cd 47.4c 1291.7d 26.3b 7.2cd 1.1b
Shoulder Inj and ST cooked 87.7c 47.8c 1155.8e 25.8b 7.6b 1.1b
a–f
Means in the same column with different letters are different (P < 0.05).
224 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229

Table 3
Colour attributes of ham cooked by RF and ST
Product Treat L* a* b* Hue Saturation
a b a b
Leg ham RF 65.88 9.17 5.63 32.10 10.83b
Leg ham ST 64.84a 7.92c 5.67a 36.11a 9.87c
Shoulder ham RF 59.11b 11.39a 5.06b 24.08c 12.51a
Shoulder ham ST 58.24b 11.39a 4.79b 22.93c 12.37a
a–c
Means in the same column with different letters are different (P < 0.05).

authors also found lower Hue angles in RF cooked meat
emulsion batters as compared to ST cooked batters
(Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004). However, no signifi-
cant difference in a* values was reported in the former
study. It has been shown that higher mean redness
values (i.e. a* values) are indicative of a less ‘‘well done’’
colouration (Lien et al., 2001a, 2001b). This is because
heating is accompanied by the denaturation of myoglo-
bin and loss of its characteristic bright red colour. One
possible explanation for the differences in a* results be-
tween the present study and those for the meat batters is
that the batters contained an artificial colouring known
as Red-2G which may have masked any differences in a*
between RF and ST cooked rolls. In addition, Shirsat,
Brunton, Lyng, and McKenna (2004) and Shirsat,
Brunton, Lyng, McKenna, and Scannell (2004) reported
that meat emulsion batters (prepared without Red-2G)
cooked very rapidly using ohmic heating had signifi-
cantly (P < 0.05) lower hue angles and higher a* values
(P < 0.001). In contrast however Laycock et al. (2003)
reported no significant difference in Hunter L* and a*
values for RF and water bath cooked whole beef
samples.
3.2.2. Sensory analysis
A similarity triangle test using 48 panellists indicated
that panellists could distinguish at the 1% level between
RF and ST cooked leg and shoulder hams. Results for
the sensory sequential test are plotted in Fig. 5a and b.
In keeping with results for instrumental values for

Fig. 5. Sensory analysis test plot of results of radio frequency cooked vs. steam cooked pork (a) leg and (b) shoulder ham.
 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229 225

texture and colour, panellists attributed the differences
to texture and colour. van Roon et al. (1994) also re-
ported that sensory evaluation of core samples from
RF and water bath cooked meat batters indicated that
RF cooked samples were firmer than their water bath
cooked counterparts. A previous study of RF and ST
cooked meat batters (Zhang, Lyng, & Brunton, 2004);,
also indicated that panellists could distinguish at the
1% level between RF and ST cooked samples. Again
similar to the present study, panellists reported that
RF cooked meat batters were significantly firmer than
ST cooked samples. However the panellists used by
Zhang, Lyng, and Brunton (2004) also indicated that
differences in flavour existed between RF and ST cooked
large diameter sausage-type (luncheon roll) samples,
which was not observed in the present study. Bengtsson
et al. (1970) reported that panellists found that RF
cooked cured hams were comparable with respect to
taste, texture and superior with respect to juiciness to
water bath cooked controls.
3.3. Ohmic heating
Overall average proximate analysis results for leg
lean, shoulder lean, belly fat and back fat are presented
in Table 4. Within each of the meats above ANOVA re-
vealed no significant differences (P < 0.05) between the
composition of the individual batches. ANOVA and
subsequent Turkey pairwise comparison of the means
did indicate that the protein, fat and ash values for pork
leg and shoulder were significantly different (P < 0.01)
but no significant difference (P < 0.05) was found in
the moisture and salt contents. Lean belly had signifi-
cantly lower moisture and higher fat and ash contents
than the other lean components and was intermediate
in protein content (P < 0.05). Back fat had significantly
lower (P < 0.05) moisture, protein fat and ash contents
than belly fat.
The conductivity cell constructed for this work was
calibrated using LevittÕs method (1954). The conductiv-
ities values for standard NaCl solutions measured by a
conductivity meter and conductivity cell are presented
in Table 5. Conductivity values, together with relative
standard deviation (RSD) (%) for lean and fat cuts are
presented in Table 6. RSD values for lean meat varied
from 1.1% to 3.5% but for fat the variation was larger
(i.e. 16–43%). The conductivity of the lean meats was
considerably higher than fat. Conductivity of lean leg
(entire) was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than shoulder
but the conductivity values for the minced leg and

Table 4
Proximate analysis results for lean and fat pork cuts
Meat type Moisture (%) Protein (%) Fat (%) Silt (%) Ash (%)
a a c
Leg lean 77.0 22.0 0.4 0.2 0.4c
Shoulder lean 76.5a 21.7c 0.9b 0.2 0.7b
Belly lean 74.8b 21.5b 2.3a 0.2 1.2a
Back fat 13.2b 4.0b 82.7a – 0.1b
Belly fat 32.3a 6.6a 60.7b – 0.4a
a–c
Mean in the same column with unlike letters are different (P < 0.05).

Table 5
Conductivities of aqueous NaCl solutions measured at 20 C using a conductivity meter and cell
NaCl (mol l1) Conductivity (S m1) RSD (%)
Published Measured TetraCon meter Measured manufactured cell
0.02 0.20 0.24 0.24 1.39
0.05 0.57 0.56 0.57 1.40
0.17 1.79 1.79 1.84 2.89

Table 6
Conductivities of pork measured at 20 C, 3.6 V C m1 and 50 Hz
Pork cuts Entire Minced
Conductivity (S m1) RSDc (%) Conductivity (S m1) RSD (%)
a
Leg lean 0.76 2.55 0.86 2.16
Shoulder lean 0.64b 2.19 0.82 1.17
Belly lean 0.68b 1.73 0.86 3.48
Back fat 0.04 25.0 0.01 43.3
Back fat 0.09 16.4 0.05 20.0
a,b
Mean in the same column with unlike letters are different (P < 0.05).
226 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229
shoulder were not significantly different from each other
(P < 0.05). Conductivity of entire lean pieces of pork
were lower than those of minced pork (Table 6) partic-
ularly in the case of shoulder and belly samples.
The non-conductive nature of fat and its effect on the
conductivity of lean minced muscle is illustrated in
Fig. 6. The RSD for electrical conductivity measure-
ments at different lean to fat ratios varied from 2%
to 13%, being higher at the higher percentage of fat.
Increasing fat content decreased the overall conductivity
of the mixture. However, the relationship between fat
content and conductivity appears to asymptotic rather
than linear. As the percentage of fat in lean was reduced,
the conductivity of lean increased until the level of fat
(<10%) had a limited effect on the conductivity of the
mixture.
The muscle structures of lean leg and shoulder were
examined by light microscopy. Several transverse sec-
tions of leg and shoulder were stained with haematoxy-
lin and eosin in order to evaluate the transverse diameter
Fig. 6. Effect of added fat (0–100%) on the conductivity of a lean-fat
blend.
Fig. 7. Transverse sections of pork leg and shoulder showing muscle fibril bundles (a) leg (b) shoulder.
of muscle fibres (Fig. 7). The results appeared to suggest
that the average diameters of myofibril bundles in the
shoulder were almost half of that in the leg.
Transverse tissue sections of leg and shoulder were
also microscopically examined for intra-muscular fat
(Fig. 8). ANOVA indicated that with respect to intra-
muscular fat content, there was no significant difference
within a given leg or shoulder muscle but a significant
difference was recorded (P < 0.05) between the shoulder
and leg (Table 7).
The conductivity differences observed between entire
pieces of lean leg and lean shoulder (Table 6) are difficult
to explain. Moisture and salt, the most important
constituents with respect to conductivity are of similar
magnitude in all three lean meat cuts and yet the con-
ductivity values of leg (entire) are higher than shoulder
(entire) (Table 6). In addition, whilst differences in pro-
tein, fat and ash are statistically significant (P < 0.01)
between leg and shoulder cuts, in real terms (<0.5%)
these differences are probably not large enough to influ-
ence the conductivity of the meat cuts (Table 4 and
Fig. 6) as is also evident from the similar conductivity
values for the two cuts in the minced form (Table 6).
This suggests that the differences in conductivities of
two cuts in entire form may be related to structural dif-
ferences. Whilst considerable work has been carried out
on the effects of particle size, shape and orientation on
the conductivity of solids in liquid–particulate mixtures
(De Alwis, Halden, & Fryer, 1989);, the effect of struc-
tural differences within the meat itself remained unex-
plored. The present results indicate that, apart from
proximate composition, the type of meat cut, i.e. pork
leg or shoulder could have an additional effect on the
conductivity of solids when processing meat pieces.
Mincing disrupts the connective tissue and cellular
structure in whole meat. The connective tissue net-
work may act as an electrochemical pathway for the
 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229
Fig. 8. Transverse sections of pork leg and shoulder showing inter-muscular fat (a) leg (b) shoulder.
Table 7
Fat contents of lean pork leg and shoulder measured using light
microscopy
Meat cut Fat content (lm2)
Pork leg 36.44a
Pork shoulder 64.61b
a,b
Mean in the same column with unlike letters are different (P < 0.05).
conduction of electrical current and its disruption may
serve to reduce electrical conductivity. A possible expla-
nation for the higher conductivity values in minced lean
meat cuts compared to their entire form is that mincing
also ruptures the myofibrillar cell tissue releasing mois-
ture and inorganic constituents (e.g. Na, K, P, etc.). In
contrast, conductivities of minced fat were lower than
those of whole fat. The reduction was probably not
caused by air incorporation during mincing as every ef-
fort was made to eliminate air from the minced fat. Pork
fat would be expected to have much lower levels of
moisture and aside from Ca has lower levels of inorganic
constituents than lean pork (Chan, Brown, Lee, & Buss,
1995). A possible explanation for the lower conductivity
in minced fat could be that the small amount of electric
current conducted through the connective tissue net-
work (which may serve to conduct a small amount of
current through the fat) in the fat is disrupted on minc-
ing whilst relative to lean meat a much lower release of
moisture and inorganic constituents occurs. The net re-
sult may lead to an overall reduction in the conductivity
of minced fat relative to entire. However, further work
would be required to verify these hypotheses.
The poorly conductive nature of fat is known but its
effects on the conductivity of lean have not been quanti-
fied. Addition of fat to lean (Fig. 6) could possibly affect
the conductivity of the mixture in two ways. First, the
reduction caused by the fat itself due to its poor conduc-
227
tivity and second, when fat is mixed with lean, it tends to
coat the lean meat particles, thus creating a barrier for
the passage of electric current. In either event the reduc-
tion in the conductivity of lean was not proportional to
its fat content, particularly at the extreme end of compo-
sition ratios (i.e. lean:fat = 90:10 and 10:90), Fig. 6.
The conductivity differences between the leg and
shoulder muscles could be due to differences in their
structural density or connective tissue content and/or in-
tra-muscular fat. Compared to leg, shoulder meat has
been shown to have a higher content of connective tissue
(Casey, Crossland, & Patterson, 1985) as well as intra-
muscular fat (Lawrie, 1991). The light microscopy re-
sults of transverse sections suggested a greater number
of myofibrillar bundles per unit area in shoulder com-
pared to leg (Fig. 7). Greater numbers of myofibrillar
bundles per unit area suggest greater amounts of end-
omysial and perimysial connective tissue in shoulder
than leg, which in turn could explain the findings of
Casey et al. (1985). The light microscopy results of lon-
gitudinal sections of the two cuts also indicated a signif-
icantly higher (P < 0.05) intra-muscular fat content in
shoulder compared to leg meat. This indicates that in
the case of intact (entire) tissue the presence of a signif-
icantly higher quantity of fat, even if the magnitude of
the difference was of the order of 0.4%, could adversely
affect the conductivity possibly due to its location. Sim-
ilar results were obtained for the transverse tissue
sections.
Conductivity measurements of minced lean contain-
ing varying percentages of fat shows an adverse effect
of fat content on the conductivity of minced lean
(Fig. 6). Halden, de Alwis, and Fryer (1990) have shown
that when pork meat and fat were ohmically treated to-
gether the two solid materials heated at different rates as
fat is less conductive than lean. However, these authors
did not specify the fat content of the meat nor its
228 B.M. McKenna et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 215–229
anatomical location. Published conductivities values for
chicken vary from 0.8 S m1 (Mitchell and de Alwis,
1989) to 0.37 S m1 (Palaniappan & Sastry, 1991). A
possible explanation for this broad range of conductivi-
ties for chicken could be due to differences in their com-
position and/or the meat cut used. In addition, it is also
evident from the present work that differences in electri-
cal conductivity of meats can be related not only to
proximate composition but can also be influenced by
internal structure which in turn is determined by ana-
tomical location. Reports of other structural influences
such as particulate orientation have been well docu-
mented for liquid–particulate systems (De Alwis &
Fryer, 1990; Sastry & Palaniappan, 1992). For smaller
particles, (e.g. emulsions, colloids and other dispersions)
such as those in the present study (which were less than
5 mm), the effect of orientation on the conductivity can
be ignored but for larger particles (15–25 mm), orienta-
tion relative to the electrical field has a significant influ-
ence on electrical properties as well as the relative
heating rates of the phases.
4. Conclusion
RF cooking results in a significant reduction in cook-
ing times for leg and shoulder hams. However, a number
of quality attributes of the RF cooked samples were dif-
ferent to that of their steam cooked counterparts and
these differences were also detectable in sensory analy-
ses. In particular instrumental quality attributes such
as texture profile analysis hardness 1 and 2 and also pen-
etration test and Warner–Bratzler maximum loads were
higher in RF cooked samples. RF cooked hams from
both meat cuts had significantly lower WHCÕs and high-
er yields than their ST cooked counterparts. In addition
RF cooking resulted in a less well done colouration as
evidenced by lower Hunter a* values in RF samples.
Many of these differences can be attributed to differences
in the level of protein denaturation in RF cooked sam-
ples. This theory is further supported by DSC analysis
which indicated that the level of protein denaturation,
particularly with respect to collagen was lower in RF
cooked samples (a fact which is further supported by
the Cs100 values). Dielectric property results would also
support this hypothesis. However, it may be possible to
produce an RF cooked entire meat product of compara-
ble quality to a steam cooked sample by extending cook-
ing times to produce similar Cs100 values.
Whilst the present study confirms the overall reduc-
ing nature of fat on the conductivity of lean muscle, it
also appears that structural differences may influence
the conductivity of muscle. Therefore, in designing pro-
cesses for ohmic heating of meat cuts, the anatomical
location of the cut may influence the efficacy of heating
though further work is needed to verify this. In addition,
whilst disruption of cellular structure by mincing lean
whole meat increases its conductivity, the opposite effect
was observed for entire and minced pork fat. A possible
explanation for this is the release of greater amounts of
moisture and ions in minced lean as compared to fat
where the reduction may be due to disruption of its lim-
ited connective tissue network which may be the primary
route for electrical conduction. However, further inves-
tigations are required to confirm this hypothesis.
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