Design of a Low‐Power Radio Frequency Unit and Its Application for Bacterial Inactivation under Laboratory Conditions

Abstract

A lab‐scale low‐power free‐running radio frequency (RF) oscillator operating at a frequency of 27.12 ± 0.50 MHz was developed to be suitable for fundamental microbiological research topics. Calibration and validation were conducted for two common foodborne pathogens in relevant microbiological growth media, i.e., Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes in Tryptic Soy Broth and Brain–Heart Infusion broth, respectively. The evolution of temperature, frequency, and power consumption was monitored during treatments, both with and without bacterial cells. The setup operated within the predefined frequency range, reaching temperatures of 71–76 °C after 15 min. The average power consumption ranged between 12 and 14 W. The presence of bacteria did not significantly influence the operational parameters. The inactivation potential of the RF setup was validated, demonstrating the absence of viable cells after 8 and 10 min of treatment, for S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes, respectively. In future studies, the setup can be used to conduct fundamental microbiological studies on RF inactivation. The setup can provide added value to the scientific field, since (i) no consensus has been reached on the inactivation mechanisms of RF inactivation of pathogens in foods and (ii) most commercial RF setups are unsuitable to adopt for fundamental studies. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This work was funded by the KU Leuven Research Fund through project C24/18/046, by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) through project G0B4121N, and by the EU H2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska‐Curie grant agreement no. 956126. Authors Davy Verheyen and Simen Akkermans were funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), grant numbers 1254421N and 1224620N, respectively