HOT AIR-ASSISTED RADIO FREQUENCY DRYING AS A PROMISING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE DRYING RATE AND PRODUCT QUALITY OF YELLOW MEALWORM (TENEBRIO MOLITOR)
8th International ISEKI-Food Conference, Faro, Portekiz, 1 - 03 Haziran 2026, ss.152, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Doi Numarası: 10.34623/fa6c-d923
- Basıldığı Şehir: Faro
- Basıldığı Ülke: Portekiz
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.152
- Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor L.) is regarded as a sustainable food alternative due to its short life cycle, high nutritional value and low environmental impact. The initial step in the handling and utilization of TML involves reducing its moisture content by drying. Radio frequency drying has become an increasingly popular drying technology in the food industry due to its rapid and volumetric heating. This study aimed to enhance the drying efficiency and quality of yellow mealworm by investigating the impact of hot air assisted radio frequency drying technology (HA-RF). Electrode gap (7, 8 and 9 cm), and sample thickness (2, 3 and 4 cm) were the parameters studied to determine the drying characteristics of the Yellow mealworm by HA-RF drying system. The shortest drying time (110 min) was achieved by HARF at 7 cm of electrode gap and 4 cm of sample thickness. The effect of HA-RF on drying behaviour and product quality has been compared with that of dried by conventional hot air (HA) drying at 50 °C. Freeze dried (FD) mealworm was also used as reference sample. HARF drying shortened the drying time by 89% compared to HA drying (990 min). The results showed that the samples dried with RF-HA had less total color differences (ΔE:15) than that of in HA dried samples (ΔE:19). The free fatty acid content of oil extracted from dried samples were 1.56, 2.45, 2.04 % oleic acid for HA-RF, HA and FD, respectively. Moreover oxidation was lowest in HA-RF dried samples than that of dried by HA or FD. It can be concluded that HA-RF drying can be a promising technique to improve drying rate and product quality of yellow mealworm.