Assessment of microwave pretreatment on kinetic modeling of moisture loss and oil uptake and acrylamide constitution during deep frying of carrot slices

The effect of microwave power levels, frying time, and temperature on mass transfer and acrylamide formation during deep-fat frying of carrot slices was determined. Maximum and minimum moisture loss were measured, respectively, in control samples fried at 170°C for 4 min and samples pretreated with microwave at 7 W/g power and fried at 150°C for 2 min. The highest (0.69 g/g) and lowest (0.42 g/g) oil uptake were observed in control samples fried at 150°C for 4 min and samples pretreated with microwave at 7 W/g power and fried at 150°C for 2 min, respectively. The effective moisture diffusion and activation energy ranged from 4.84 × 10−10 to 15.41 × 10−10 m2/s and from 6.47 to 11.75 kJ/mol, respectively. The highest (19.83 µg/kg) and the lowest (<4.67 µg/kg) amount of acrylamide formation were, respectively, measured in control and in microwave pretreated samples (with 7 W/g power for 3 min and fried at 150°C for 2 min). Novelty impact statement Using microwaves as a pretreatment could significantly reduce oil uptake and acrylamide formation in carrot samples. A reduction in acrylamide was observed in this study after increasing the microwave thermal power from 3 to 7 W/g. Some studies have shown that the acrylamide content increases by increasing the thermal power of the microwave. This study reports that the acrylamide content is a function of the processing time, and the increasing thermal power of the microwave reduces the acrylamide content in short processes.