Rapid food particle temperature mapping during ohmic heating using FLASH MRI

A fast low angle shoot (FLASH) pulse sequence in combination with a multi-i nversion procedure was used to rapidly acquire spin-lattice relaxation data for food particles undergoing ohmic heating, The relaxation data acquired by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were analyzed using a two-component exp onential model to extract both short and long spin-lattice relaxation time, T-1, The longer T-1 showed a better linear relationship with temperature t han the shorter T-1 and, therefore, was used to produce more reliable tempe rature maps. The MRI temperature maps constructed for ohmically heated food particulates showed an entirely different heating pattern than would be fo und for similar but conventionally heated particulates and indicated that t he temperature inside the particulate could be higher than near the surface of the particulate.