Abstract
The effects of microwave treatment on the perservation of foods, such as a seaweed soup and sea stoned radish shreds, were studied. Microwave treatment of microbial cell suspensions revealed that viable cells decreased dramatically when heated to 6$0^{\circ}C$. However, it was unlikely that microwave treatment to 60 is enough to decrease the viable cell counts efficiently in a seaweed soup and radish shreds. It was thought that microwave heating to at least 7$0^{\circ}C$ as a final temperature was an important factor to reduce microbial cell counts in foods. When foods were heated to 7$0^{\circ}C$ with a repetitive 15 sec "on" followed by 30 sec "off", no big differences were observed in viable counts during storage at 2$0^{\circ}C$ for 3 days, as compared to those treated with a full power. The microwave treatment with three stages was designed to solve problems associated with variations depending on food volumes and difficulties of heat diffusion in a solid food to be irradiated with a microwave oven. The three stage method was found to have a similar efficiency in the reduction of viable cell counts in foods to microwave treatment at a full power and to conventional methods, such as water bath heating or boiling for 3 min with a gas range.in with a gas range.