Effect of Microwaves on Food Enzymes

Microwave has been extensively used as a novel type of heating process in recent years and there are a wide range of studies which deals with the application of this technology in biological materials. Electromagnetic energy can change the structure of enzymes and the rate of reaction through both thermal and non-thermal effects; however, this field requires deeper exploring to disambiguate the issues. It is obvious that for the electromagnetic irradiation, microwave heating improves directly through absorption of the microwave energy by molecules and ions and heat generation performance is significantly higher than that of conventional one. In the previous chapter, the microwave heating effects on microorganisms was discussed. This chapter discusses the effects that microwave irradiation on enzymes, their structure and their activity during different process like blanching and germination and also enhancing the rates of enzymatic reactions with microwave irradiation.