ESTIMATION OF CONFIDENCE-INTERVAL OF PASTEURIZING VALUES OF CONDUCTION-HEATED SOUS-VIDE FOOD IN A COMBINATION OVEN

The thermal diffusivity of potato and the apparent heat transfer coeff icients (h) in a conduction chiller and in a combination oven at 85, 9 0 and 95 degrees C and vario-steaming mode were determined experimenta lly. Based on K-S tests and assumption, the variabilities of all six p arameters (thermal diffusivity, h values for heating and cooling, init ial food temperature, process medium temperatures and z value) were re presented by normal distribution only (model A) or by both normal and gamma distributions (model B). The mean P-70 values and their 95% conf idence intervals for three oven temperatures, estimated from experimen tal temperature histories, were 1510 +/- 101, 1590 +/- 131 and 1590 +/ - 170 min (for each oven temperature, n = 100) respectively. Good agre ement was obtained between these estimations and those predicted using the Monte Carlo procedure and models A and B.