Daming Fan

Microwave is “the second flame of human beings”. How to efficiently use microwave to achieve high-quality food production has become a hot topic of current research. Moisture is one of the important components of food. Under microwave field, water molecules respond to heat production through dipole polarization, which may interfere with the existing interaction mode with other components, and then affect the microwave processing characteristics and quality of food. This report focuses on the interaction between water and food components under microwave field. Dipolar molecule glucose, dissociative salt sodium chloride and low acyl gellan gum-calcium ion system with both dipole and ion are selected as typical food components, and integrates molecular dynamics simulation and isokinetic heating experimental method to explore the intervention effect of dipole polarization and ionic conductance on the interaction between water and components. It is found that different from the traditional macroscopic understanding, microwave promotes the contact between dipole molecules and surrounding molecules at the micro level, and enhances the interaction between water molecules and components, but the conductivity of ionic components promotes their hydration under microwave field. This report discusses the interaction mechanism between water and food components under microwave field from the molecular atomic level, and provides new ideas and new methods for regulating the quality of microwave food from the micro level, which is conducive to further broadening the application of microwave green energy in future food processing.