**8. Application of microwave technology in some food products**

The use of microwave energy in food processing can be classified into six unit operations: (re)heating, baking and (pre)cooking, tempering, blanching, pasteurisation and sterilisation, and dehydration. Although their objectives differ, these aims are established by similar means: an increase in temperature. Nevertheless, for each special use (different from pure microwave heating), different advantages and disadvantages have to be taken into account. These are presented in the next sections together with some examples of real industrial applications.

Microwaves lend well to speeding up almost any drying processing which the liquid being evaporated is neither explosive nor flammable. The great advantage of microwave drying is speed, often allowing the drying of a material in 10% or less of the normal drying time. However, in no application, other than laboratory analytical drying systems, are microwaves used to dry a product alone. Always there is the use of additional heat—hot air, ambient or forced circulation; infrared; or some combination of these. In fact, microwave heating, properly applied, and usually represents a minor part of the total heat energy required for drying, the reason being cost.

Also, the following benefits encourage the application of microwave drying technology:

