SBIR Phase I: Novel Optical Materials for Cooking Fast Foods without Fryer Oils

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将开发创新的光学材料，有可能给油炸食品生产和众多其他行业带来革命性的变化。需要一种新技术来解决与油浸烹饪相关的健康和安全风险问题。油浸烹饪导致油炸食品中吸收的油和脂肪含量大幅增加，这是不可接受的。研究目标是开发一种基于光谱选择性红外光的无油油炸技术。传统的红外加热元件不太适合这些油炸应用，因为它们不具有光谱选择性，并且在更长的波长下释放出很大一部分能量，从而迅速烧焦和损坏食品。这项研究将开发一系列先进的陶瓷材料，这些材料在加热时只发射选择性较短的红外波长的光，这对油炸快餐很有用。如果成功，这项研究将产生一系列材料，可以快速高效地炸出美味的食物，而不需要油，同时比传统的油浸烹饪使用更少的能源和成本。该项目将在食品行业产生更广泛的影响/商业潜力。商业重点最初将是烹调不含油炸食油的快餐。例如，炸薯条可以吸收油炸所用食用油的30%。这项新的红外线烹饪技术有可能显着减少社会S对油炸锅油和脂肪的消耗，而油炸锅油和脂肪是肥胖流行的主要原因。使用波长选择性红外线光能的烹饪有可能在没有吸收油的情况下获得卓越或类似的味道质量。这项技术还将提高对食品加工、散装干燥和杀菌领域的科学技术理解。真正的波长选择性红外发射材料还有许多其他重要的应用，这种材料在加工过程中不会在过热、灼伤或破坏有价值的食品特性的波长上辐射能量。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop innovative optical materials with the potential to revolutionize fried food production and numerous other industries. A new technology is needed to solve health and safety risk problems that are associated with oil immersion cooking. Oil immersion cooking results in unacceptably large increases in absorbed oil and fat content in fried foods. The research objective is to develop an oil-less frying technique based on spectrally selective infrared light. Conventional infrared heating elements are poorly suited to these frying applications because they are not spectrally selective and emit large portions of their energy at longer wavelengths that quickly scorch and damage food products. This research will develop a series of advanced ceramic materials, which when heated only emit light at selective shorter infrared wavelengths that are useful in frying fast foods. If successful, this research will result in array of materials which can rapidly and efficiently fry foods that are tasty, without the need for oil, while using less energy and costing less than traditional oil immersion cooking.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be in the food industry. The commercial focus will initially be on cooking fast foods without fryer oils. French fries, for example, can absorb 30% by weight of the cooking oil used in deep frying. This new infrared cooking technology has the potential to significantly reduce society?s consumption of deep fryer oils and fats which are a major contributor to the obesity epidemic. Cooking using wavelength-selective infrared light energy has the potential to achieve superior or comparable taste quality without the absorbed oil. This technology will also enhance scientific and technological understanding in the areas of food processing, bulk drying, and sterilization. Many other important applications exist for true wavelength selective infrared emitting materials that do not radiate energy at wavelengths which overheat, burn, or destroy valuable food characteristics during processing.