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Heat treatment is a common and important step in the manufacturing of many solid foods such as baked products, meat, canned foods, dried and fried products. During thermal processing, the food undergoes several changes in the microstructure and physical properties of the food matrix. The heat and water transport inside the food is coupled in a complex way, which for some food systems it is not yet fully understood. Therefore, our primary research goals are directed toward better mechanistic understanding of the solid food processes, developing novel technologies (e.g., ohmic heating), the development of mechanistic or physical based mathematical models of heat and mass transfer and the resulting transformations that can be utilized for prediction, control and optimization of the food production systems.

Establishing the robust mathematical models describing the main mechanisms reliably is of great concern. A quantitative description of the heat and mass transfer during the solid food processing, in the form of mathematical equations, implementation of the solution techniques, and the value of the input parameters involves uncertainty. This presentation focuses on mechanistic modelling of heat and mass transfer during processing of solid foods (e.g., baking, roasting etc.) and the role of global uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in food industries.