Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations 12-2018 The ffecE ts of Various Retort Motions on the Rate of Heat Penetration of a Food Simulant in Pouches Mollye MacNaughton Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Recommended Citation MacNaughton, Mollye, "The Effects of Various Retort Motions on the Rate of Heat Penetration of a Food Simulant in Pouches" (2018). All Dissertations. 2260. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2260 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS RETORT MOTIONS ON THE RATE OF HEAT PENETRATION OF A FOOD SIMULANT IN POUCHES A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Food Technolgy by Mollye MacNaughton December 2018 Accepted by: Dr. William Scott Whiteside, Committee Chair Dr. Taner Baysal Dr. Paul Dawson Dr. Ron Thomas i ABSTRACT Processing foods in a retort is a reliable and established method of creating sterile and shelf stable products. The formula of the product and the package size dictates the processing time. Rotary retorts were invented to agitate cans to reduce the processing times and create uniform heating within the can. Recently, horizontal reciprocating agitation has become a feature of retorts referred to as Gentle Motion® and Shaka®. Oscillating agitation is an even newer possible retort motion. This research experiment was designed to (1) determine the effects of oscillating continuously and oscillating-dwell time on the rate of heat penetration in a pouch compared to static motion and to (2) determine the effect of different viscosities of food simulant within pouches on the rate of heat penetration in the different retort motions as well as to (3) determine the effect of three different amounts of residual air within pouches on the rate of heat penetration in the different retort motions. Seven different retort motions were used in the experiment: static (S), oscillating continuously at 10.5 rotations per minute (RPM) with a 15° angle (O), 10.5 RPM with a dwell time 15 seconds (OH), 6 RPM with a dwell time of 5 seconds (A), 6 RPM with a dwell time of 20 seconds (B), 12 RPM with a dwell time of 5 seconds (C), and 12 RPM with a dwell time of 20 seconds (D). The results of the study showed that there can be optimal relationships between motion, viscosity, and residual air when trying to increase the rate of heat penetration in a pouch. ii DEDICATION I wish to dedicate this dissertation to my family. To my parents Jane and Mike MacNaughton, your guidance, patience, understating, and constant support have enabled me to achieve my dreams. At an early age you instilled in me a determined and focused work ethic and have continued to nurture my love of learning throughout my life, no matter my passion. The hard work and sacrifices you both have made for my education have molded me to the person I am today. Thank you for always encouraging me to fail, try my hardest, and set my goals higher than I can imagine. I love you both more than you know. To my brother, Matthew, your constant love, support, and humor have gotten me through the roughest days. From teaching me about Reddit to sending me comedic videos for my study breaks, I could not have finished graduate school or gone through life without you. Although it was difficult being so far away from all of you through this whole process, I would not have completed this dissertation without your phone calls, texts, and visits. I also would like to dedicate this dissertation to the mentor/teacher/coach who first encouraged me to pursue science and without whom I wouldn’t have attended Clemson University for my undergraduate degree. Rest in peace Mr. Loh; thank you for buying me my first [pink] hard hat, for your dedication to getting all us girls published in high school, for always encouraging my curiosity in all sciences, for having a wonderful sense of humor, for being my Stephen Hawking, and for inspiring my journey towards my Ph.D. It is with my greatest pleasure that I dedicate this accomplishment to you all! iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge all of those who have offered me support and encouragement over the course of this work. First and foremost, I would like to thank my major advisor Dr. Scott Whiteside for his mentoring and support throughout my time at Clemson. You saw potential in me, offered me a place in your lab and then as your Ph.D. student. Your high expectations and real world approach allowed me to grow as a researcher and a leader of the lab. I am forever thankful for your constant questions, counseling, lessons, and thoughtfulness to allow me 5 more seasons of free [student] football tickets. Dr. Ron Thomas introduced me to Dr. Whiteside and brought me into this lab family. Your encouragement to constantly be aware of personal happiness as well as professional fulfillment has meant the world to me. You kept me focused on the bigger picture and always emboldened me to challenge myself and set high goals. I would like to thank Dr. Dawson and Dr. Baysal for their support and coaching through this process. Dr. Dawson also brought new ideas to the table and challenged my ways of thinking. Dr. Baysal was instrumental in countless discussions about tomatoes and thermal processes. Accomplishments like this are never completed and should not be celebrated alone. Many others have helped me reach this goal including Mr. Rodney Weaver, Mr. Scott Cabes, Mr. Lee Cabes, Mr. Rick Eleew, finally and certainly not least, I would like to thank my fellow undergraduate and graduate students, Miss Virginia Ellis, Miss Katelyn Moloney, Miss Meredith Johnson, Mr. Steven Skrypec, Mr. Jirawich (MoMo) Panin, and Mr. David Hutto Jr. for their daily presence throughout all the lows and highs of working on my dissertation. iv PREFACE This dissertation is divided into five chapters; the first is the literature review followed by three journal articles either published or in press, and the final chapter is a summary of the research conclusions from the articles. Part of this work has been presented in the following publications: MacNaughton, Mollye S., Whiteside, W. S., Reick, J. R., & Thomas, R. L. “Effects of Different Oscillating-Dwell Time Combinations on the Rate of Heat Penetration of Retort Food Simulant in Pouch.” Journal of Food Science, Food Engineering, Materials Science, and Nanotechnology Section. (2018): Pending Review. MacNaughton, Mollye S., Whiteside, W. S., Reick, J. R., & Thomas, R. L. “The Effects of Residual Air and Viscosity on Heat Penetration of Retort Food Simulant in Pouch When Using Static and Oscillating Motions.” Journal of Food Science, Food Engineering, Materials Science, and Nanotechnology Section. (2018): DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.13963. Print. MacNaughton, Mollye S., Whiteside, W. S., Reick, J. R., & Thomas, R. L. “The Effects of Static, Oscillating, and Oscillating with Dwell Time Retort Motions on the Rate of Heat Penetration of a Food Simulant Processed in a Pouch.” Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. (2017): DOI: 10.1111/jfpp.13410. Print. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. iv PREFACE ....................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 References ................................................................................................ 5 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...................................................................... 12 Shelf Stable Foods ................................................................................. 12 Water Activity ........................................................................................ 12 Naturally Acidic and Acidified Foods ................................................... 14 Low Acid Canned Foods ....................................................................... 16 Thermal Processing ................................................................................ 17 Pasteurization and Sterilization .............................................................. 21 Retort Motion ......................................................................................... 23 Retort Heating Mediums ........................................................................ 28 Heat Penetration Testing .......................................................................