Ellen Bornhorst’s Three Minute Thesis
Improving Food Quality Using Microwave Processing
In this research Ms. Bornhorst developed mashed potato and green pea model foods to evaluate the quality of foods heated with traditional and novel microwave processes. The model foods are based on the principle that color change in food is an indicator of food quality. Results showed that by using the model foods and computer image analysis, Ms. Bornhorst was able to quantify the quality change. Model foods from the traditional process had more color change and worse quality compared to those from the novel microwave process, which had less color change and better quality. The application of this research is for food companies; they could utilize these model foods to quantify and maximize food quality while maintaining safety.
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Ellen Bornhorst is a Ph.D. candidate in Biological and Agricultural Engineering and is a United States Department of Agriculture National Needs Graduate Fellow in food engineering at WSU. She received a M.S. degree at WSU from the same program and a B.S. degree in Biosystems Engineering from Michigan State University with high honors. Ellen has been involved with the Food Engineering Club at WSU and completed multiple internships at Campbell Soup Company, PepsiCo, ConAgra, and NASA. Her research focuses on developing model foods to evaluate food quality for microwave assisted pasteurization in Dr. Juming Tang’s group.