Application of Ohmic–Vacuum Combination Heating for the Processing of Senior-Friendly Food (Multiphase Food): Experimental Studies and Numerical Simulation
, Wang-Hee Lee 1,2, Taiyoung Kang 3,* and Seung Hyun Lee 1,2,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This manuscript describes the use of Ohmic-vacuum processing in combination with heat and agitation to provide foods that benefits seniors. The authors do an excellent job framing the problem of food for the aged and provide a strong justification for the work in the introduction. The introduction discusses relevant work and provides details that will enable a broad audience to access and understand the manuscript. The diagram in Figure 1 is very helpful to understand the process of ohmic-vacuum.
The experimental section supplies details to reproduce the experiments. The outline in Figure 3 is extremely helpful to follow the experimental protocol. Figure 4 does an excellent job to visualize the ohmic-vacuum device and utility.
The discussion section fully discusses the results presented in the paper. It could benefit from a discussion of related work and effects of ohmic-vacuum processing on food texture and sensory.
Overall, this paper is a high-quality contribution that provides insight into the use of ohmic-vacuum devices to help aged populations to continue to a wide variety of food products, including pork.
Below are specific comments that will strengthen the paper.
Specific Comments:
Figure 2 could be labeled a “diagram of TPA hardness measurement”.
It will be helpful to readers if references are added to section 2.5.1 to help guide readers to further information on the physics of the protocol. Presenting the data without references limits the value of this section.
If possible, tables 2 and 3 could be formatted to include the +/- deviations on the same line as the values (reduce text size).
Figures 6 and 7 should have error bars to communicate the reproducibility of the experiments.
The results and discussion section could benefit from a discussion on the changes in food texture/sensory on the ohmic-vacuum treated food.
Author Response
This manuscript describes the use of Ohmic-vacuum processing in combination with heat and agitation to provide foods that benefits seniors. The authors do an excellent job framing the problem of food for the aged and provide a strong justification for the work in the introduction. The introduction discusses relevant work and provides details that will enable a broad audience to access and understand the manuscript. The diagram in Figure 1 is very helpful to understand the process of ohmic-vacuum.
The experimental section supplies details to reproduce the experiments. The outline in Figure 3 is extremely helpful to follow the experimental protocol. Figure 4 does an excellent job to visualize the ohmic-vacuum device and utility.
The discussion section fully discusses the results presented in the paper. It could benefit from a discussion of related work and effects of ohmic-vacuum processing on food texture and sensory.
Overall, this paper is a high-quality contribution that provides insight into the use of ohmic-vacuum devices to help aged populations to continue to a wide variety of food products, including pork.
Answer: The authors appreciate the reviewer’s constructive comments and suggestions. The manuscript was revised to incorporate the review comments. As suggested by the reviewer, the relevant sentences have been rewritten and have been presented in different color (blue) in the revised manuscript.
Below are specific comments that will strengthen the paper.
Specific Comments:
Figure 2 could be labeled a “diagram of TPA hardness measurement”.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the caption of Figure 2 was revised. (Line #176)
It will be helpful to readers if references are added to section 2.5.1 to help guide readers to further information on the physics of the protocol. Presenting the data without references limits the value of this section.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the references for the all equations used in the simulation model were added in the revised manuscript. (Line #215, #221, #228, #234, #243, #249, #258)
If possible, tables 2 and 3 could be formatted to include the +/- deviations on the same line as the values (reduce text size).
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the format of tables was modified. (Table 2 and 3, Line #307, #365)
Figures 6 and 7 should have error bars to communicate the reproducibility of the experiments.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the error bars were added in Figures 6 and 7. (Figure 6 and 7, Line #336, #365)
The results and discussion section could benefit from a discussion on the changes in food texture/sensory on the ohmic-vacuum treated food.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the discussion about food texture changes caused by OH-VC combination heating was added. (Line #379~384)
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript presents interesting results concerning combined ohmic-vacuum heating. These results might be useful for fast cooking of multiphase foods which require control of textural properties and temperature distribution. However, this manuscript requires improving due to some shortcomings.
Comments that should be considered to make the manuscript suitable:
L 109-110. It is not clear what the temperature was when measuring the viscosity.
L 127. What is the basis for claiming that there is the linear relationship between electrical conductivity and temperature? Why is Table 1 in the methodology section instead of the results section?
L 135. Please change the sentence so that it does not start with a number. Putting the value at the end of one sentence and at the very beginning of the following sentence might be confusing.
L 140. It is not clear whether 0.9 bar is an absolute pressure or a vacuum intensity (0.9 bar), which corresponds to an absolute pressure of 0.1 bar. Try to be consistent when providing information on vacuum pressure throughout the manuscript.
L 141. Abbreviations concerning outside diameter (O.D.) and interior diameter (I.D.)should be defined or replaced by full names.
L 164-175. Why only hardness was evaluated for TPA? For determination of hardness one compression is enough. This test enables determination of other parameters such as cohesiveness (A2/A1), adhesiveness (B) or springiness. The value of the sample deformation is missing. The shape of TPA curve presented in Fig. 2 significantly differs from the real one obtained during the test. Consider to replace the current version of the curve with example of typical TPA curve obtained within this study.
L177-180. It is unclear whether one or two sentences were used to represent the information. Incorrect use of parentheses and dots leads to confusion. Improve writing style.
L 282. Consider replacing “measure” with “determine” as real measurement of temperature in the case of model is practically impossible.
L 310. Please check the correctness of the sentence regarding the electrical conductivity.
Author Response
The manuscript presents interesting results concerning combined ohmic-vacuum heating. These results might be useful for fast cooking of multiphase foods which require control of textural properties and temperature distribution. However, this manuscript requires improving due to some shortcomings.
Answer: The authors appreciate the reviewer’s constructive comments and suggestions. The manuscript was revised to incorporate the review comments. As suggested by the reviewer, the relevant sentences have been rewritten and have been presented in different color (blue) in the revised manuscript.
Comments that should be considered to make the manuscript suitable:
L 109-110. It is not clear what the temperature was when measuring the viscosity.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the manuscript was modified by adding the temperature at which the viscosity was measured. (Line #108~110)
L 127. What is the basis for claiming that there is the linear relationship between electrical conductivity and temperature? Why is Table 1 in the methodology section instead of the results section?
Answer: As can be seen from Table 1, the electrical conductivity of the senior friendly food products used in this study increased with an increase in temperature. The relationship between electrical conductivity and temperature could be expressed as a linear relationship by equation (3).
Table 1 shows the electrical conductivity values of commercial senior-friendly food products. The model food was produced based on the measured electrical conductivity of the products and was used in the experiment. The electrical conductivity of the model food listed in Table 1 was raw data for the experiment, so it was placed in the methodology section.
L 135. Please change the sentence so that it does not start with a number. Putting the value at the end of one sentence and at the very beginning of the following sentence might be confusing.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the sentence was corrected. (Line #136~137)
L 140. It is not clear whether 0.9 bar is an absolute pressure or a vacuum intensity (0.9 bar), which corresponds to an absolute pressure of 0.1 bar. Try to be consistent when providing information on vacuum pressure throughout the manuscript.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the entire manuscript was checked and corrected so that there was no confusion about the information provided.
L 141. Abbreviations concerning outside diameter (O.D.) and interior diameter (I.D.)should be defined or replaced by full names.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, O.D and I.D have been replaced with full names. (Line #142)
L 164-175. Why only hardness was evaluated for TPA? For determination of hardness one compression is enough. This test enables determination of other parameters such as cohesiveness (A2/A1), adhesiveness (B) or springiness. The value of the sample deformation is missing. The shape of TPA curve presented in Fig. 2 significantly differs from the real one obtained during the test. Consider to replace the current version of the curve with example of typical TPA curve obtained within this study.
Answer: According to the Korean industrial standard(KS standard), the quality of senior-friendly foods can be determined based on the hardness of the solid phase food and the viscosity of the liquid phase food. Consequently, the effect of the ohmic-vacuum combination system on the processing of senior-friendly foods was tested, and the hardness of the processed solid particles was measured as quality indicator. In addition, as suggested by the reviewer, the shape of the TPA curve in Figure 2 was revised. (Line #176)
L177-180. It is unclear whether one or two sentences were used to represent the information. Incorrect use of parentheses and dots leads to confusion. Improve writing style.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, the manuscript was revised to reduce confusion by splitting the sentences. (Line #179~181)
L 282. Consider replacing “measure” with “determine” as real measurement of temperature in the case of model is practically impossible.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, "measure" was changed to "determine". (Line #285)
L 310. Please check the correctness of the sentence regarding the electrical conductivity.
Answer: As suggested by the reviewer, removed texts irrelevant to the flow of sentence content. (Line #315)
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
