WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Thermal Degradation of Three Nutrients in Foods

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choose a nonisothermal temperature profile
isothermal
T
1
T
2
T
3
T (°C)
15.
t
40.
degradation curve 1
n
1
0.
T
ref
1
(°C)
15.
k
T
ref
1
0.015
c
1
0.1
degradation curve 2
n
2
0.5
T
ref
2
(°C)
20.
k
T
ref
2
0.015
c
2
0.075
degradation curve 3
n
3
1.
T
ref
3
(°C)
20.
k
T
ref
3
0.03
c
3
0.05
axes limits
t
max
60.
T
min
(°C)
0.
T
max
(°C)
40.
T
2
(t) = T
0
+(a
1
-T
0
) (1-exp(-0.02 t))+a
2
sin(a
3
t)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0
10
20
30
40
time (arbitrary units)
temperature (°C)
temperature profile
T
0
= 12.
a
1
= 30.
a
2
= 1.
a
3
= 0.3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
time (arbitrary units)
concentration ratio
degradation curves
t = 40.
C
1
= 0.19
C
2
= 0.55
C
3
= 0.34

Foods, especially fortified ones, contain several nutrients—for example, vitamins, whose thermal degradation during storage follows different kinetics. This implies that different constant storage temperatures or nonisothermal temperature histories would result in different absolute and relative retention levels at different times. This Demonstration simulates isothermal and nonisothermal degradation curves of three hypothetical nutrients following the same or different kinetic orders. The temperature dependence of their rate constants is assumed to follow an exponential model, which can be used interchangeably with the traditional Arrhenius equation.