Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Modeling and optimization of variable retort temperature (VRT)

thermal processing using coupled neural networks and
genetic algorithms
C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy *

Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, 21 111 Lakeshore, St. Anne-de-Bellevue,
PQ, Que., Canada H9X 3V9
Received 28 May 2001; accepted 3 September 2001

Abstract
Variable retort temperature (VRT) thermal processing can be an eective technique used for improving the quality of canned
foods and reduce the process time. In this study, articial intelligent techniques were applied to develop prediction models and search
for optimal variable retort temperature processing conditions for conduction heated foods. A computer simulation program was used
to gather data needed for training and testing of articial neural network (ANN) models. Two VRT functions, sine and exponential,
were used for modeling and optimization. ANN models were implemented to develop prediction models for VRT output variables:
average quality retention (Qv ), process time (Pt ) and surface cook value (Fs ). Genetic algorithms (GA) were coupled with trained
neural network models to meet dierent optimization objectives: minimum Pt and Fs , under given constraints. The searching range of
each independent variable was based on a sensitivity analysis of eects of function parameters on response variables. The best results
for Qv , Pt and Fs under constant retort temperature (CRT) processing conditions were used as constraints. Test results indicated that
coupled ANNGA models could be eectively used for describing the relationships between the operating variables and VRT
function parameters, and for identifying optimal processing conditions. VRT processes reduced the process time by more than 20%
and surface cook value by about 710% as compared to the best CRT process. 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Keywords: Variable retort temperature; Thermal processing; Modeling; Optimization; Neural networks; Genetic algorithms; Canning

1. Introduction Stoforos, Noronha, Hendrickx, & Tobback, 1997; Tei-

Thermal processing is one of the major preservation
technologies used for producing safe and shelf-stable
food. Thermal sterilization of canned foods is such a
mature technology that it is generally perceived that
there is little potential for further development. How-
ever, the technology continues to evolve with recent
developments directed towards achieving better energy
utilization, more ecient production, automation, more
appealing packaging and better product quality. The
conventional thermal processing such as constant retort
temperature (CRT) has been widely studied for a variety
of optimization purposes (Lund, 1988; Silva, Oliveir, &
Hendrickx, 1994; Smout, Van Loey, & Hendrickx, 2001;
* The VRT approach has been shown to be very promising
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-514-398-7919; fax: +1-514-398-
7977.
E-mail address: ramaswamy@macdonald.mcgill.ca (H.S. Rama-
swamy).
0260-8774/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 5 9 - 5
xeira, Dixon, Zahradnik, & Zinsmeister, 1969). Variable
retort temperature (VRT) processing as one of the po-
tential technologies to improve both the economy and
quality of some canned foods, has been receiving in-
creasing attention (Durance, 1997). The early research
involving VRT processing (Nadkarni & Hatton, 1985;
Saguy & Karel, 1979; Teixeira, Zinmeister, & Zahradnik,
1975) primarily focused on optimizing the average (vol-
umetric) nutrient retention, which were rather minimal.
However, the more recent studies (Almonacid-Merino,
Simpson, & Torres, 1993; Banga, Perez-Martin, Gal-
lardo, & Casares, 1991; Durance, Dou, & Mazza, 1996;
Noronha, Hendrickx, Suys, & Tobback, 1993) have fo-
cused on optimization of other objective functions, such
as surface quality, process time and energy conservation.
in this regard, especially with respect to improved food
quality and reduced process time. For example, Banga
et al. (1991) indicated that surface quality was improved
210 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
Nomenclature
a radius of can (mm)
A1 amplitude of sine function
A2 limitation range of exponential function
Dm decimal destruction time for microorganism
(min)
Dq decimal destruction time for quality (min)
Er average relative error (%)
F accumulative lethality value during whole
processing (min)
Fh accumulative lethality value from heating
(min)
Fc accumulative lethality value from cooling
(min)
Fo lethality value (min)
Fs surface cook value (min)
Fsd desired surface cook value (min)
h height of can (mm)
k rate constant of exponential function
Ni number of initial population
N1 limitation number of total generations
N2 given number of generations
Pt process time (or heating time) (min)
by up to 20% under the optimal VRT process and that
the process time could be reduced by up to 16.5%.
The quality of canned food is dependent on many
factors such as retort temperature, can size and shape,
thermal properties and kinetic parameters. To obtain
the best quality and production rate, each combination
of food product and container geometry requires dif-
ferent VRT processes. Thus, selection of a VRT process
is a multi-factor optimization problem. Usually, solving
optimization problem consists of two steps: (i) the de-
velopment of models for the objective function using
mathematical approaches which could include regres-
sion models, theoretical analysis models or dierential
equations, and (ii) the identication of optimal condi-
tions which are searched using a search method such as
direct search, grid search or gold section method for a
single variable, or alternating variable search, pattern
search or Powells method for multiple variables (Saguy,
1983). However, with the rapid development of com-
puter technology and software, articial intelligence
technologies such as neural networks and genetic algo-
rithms (GAs) have been found to oer advantages over
conventional methods to deal with system modeling and
optimization problems, especially for those involving
nonlinear and complex mathematical approaches.
A neural network is a collection of interconnecting
computational elements which are simulated like neu-
rons in biological systems. It has the capability of re-
lating the input and output parameters without any
Ptd desired process time (min)
Qv average quality retention for whole can (%)
Qvd desired average quality retention (%)
r radial coordinate
RT retort temperature (C)
Tc cooling temperature (C)
Ti initial temperature (C)
Tm period time of sine function
y axial coordinate
yi ANN predicted value
yid desired output variable value
ym mean value
ymax maximum y
ymin minimum y
Zm temperature dependence for microorganism
(C)
Zq temperature dependence for quality factor
(C)
q ratio of lethality value from heating to total
desired lethality value
a thermal diusivity (in:2 = min)
prior knowledge of the relationship between them. Ap-
plications of neural networks in food processing have
been surfacing since 1990, lagging behind other areas
such as chemical engineering. More recently, articial
neural networks (ANNs) have been receiving greater
attention in several food processing areas: drying tech-
nologies (Chen, Ramaswamy, & Alli, 2000; Kaminski,
Strumillo, & Romczak, 1998; Sreekanth, Ramaswamy,
& Sablani, 1998), baking (Cho & Kim, 1998), fermen-
tation (Aires-de-Sousa, 1996; Teissier, Perret, Latrille,
Barillere, & Corrieu, 1997), postharvest (Morimoto,
Purwanto, Suzuki, & Hashimoto, 1997b), food rheology
(Ruan, Almaer, & Zhang, 1995), thermal processing
(Afaghi, 2000; Afaghi, Ramaswamy, & Prasher, 2000;
Chen & Ramaswamy, 2000; Sablani, Ramaswamy,
Sreekanth, & Prasher, 1997a,b), etc.
GA is a combinatorial optimization technique, which
searches for an optimal value of a complex objective
function by simulation of the biological evolutionary
process based, as in genetics, on crossover and mutation.
An optimal value can be searched, in parallel, with a
multi-point search procedure. In addition, GAs can use
ANN models as their guiding function. GAs have been
successfully used in a wide variety of problem domains
(Goldberg, 1989). In recent years, applications of GAs
to the optimal control of agricultural and food pro-
duction systems have been observed. Morimoto and
Hashimoto (1996) presented the application of GAs and
neural networks for the optimal control of total leaf
 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220 211

length to stem diameter of tomato plants during the based on the dierence value between F and Fo until
seedling stage in hydroponics. Morimoto, Baerdemae- F Fo  0:1. All thermal properties were assumed to be
ker, and Hashimoto (1997a) developed an ANNGA temperature independent, and the external heat trans-
intelligence approach for optimal control of fruit-stor- fer resistance at the can surface was considered to be
age process. Morimoto et al. (1997b) used GA for op- negligible as in the case of processing of cans in steam.
timization of heat treatment for fruit during storage. The heat penetration in cylindrical geometry of nite
Chtioui, Bertrand, and Barba (1998) reported seed se- shape was represented by the following partial dier-
lection using a GA in combination with articial vision. ential equation
There are no reported applications of GA for thermal
o2 T 1 oT o2 T 1 oT
processing optimizations. ; 1
The objective of this study was to evaluate the appli- or2 r or oy 2 a ot
cation of coupled neural networks and GA techniques where a is the thermal diusivity and r and y are the
for modeling and optimization of VRT thermal pro- radial and axial coordinates, respectively.
cessing for conduction heated foods. The specic objec- The initial and boundary conditions were:
tives included: (i) analyzing the eects of VRT function
T Ti t 0; 2a
parameters on the main response variables: process time,
average quality retention, surface cook value, (ii) deter- oT
0 r 0 and t > 0; 2b
mining the search ranges for optimization of VRT pro- or
cessing, (iii) developing ANN prediction models for each oT
main response variable related to VRT function param- 0 y 0 and t > 0; 2c
oy
eters, and (iv) to search the optimal processing temper-
ature proles using the coupled ANNGA models. T 104 f t r a or z h=2 and t > 0; 2d
where a is the radius of the can, h is the height of the
can, and f t is VRT function.
2. Methodology
2.2. Variable retort temperature proles
2.1. Computer simulation
Several types of functions, such as sine, exponential,
A comprehensive nite dierence computer simula-
ramps and steps, can be used for VRT proles. The sine
tion program in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 was devel-
and exponential functions involve only two variable
oped for obtaining data for training and testing ANN
parameters, while others involve more variables de-
models as well as for verication. The main output
pending on the experimental arrangement. The simpler
variables were process time, energy consumption, aver-
sine and exponential functions were chosen for the pre-
age quality retention and surface cook value, and the
sent study since this is the rst attempt at using ANN
input variables included can size, thermal diusivity of
GA based optimization method for thermal processing.
food a, kinetic parameters of both microorganism (Dm
A typical retort temperature prole during processing
and Zm) and quality (Dq and Zq), retort temperature RT
(Fig. 1(a)), was divided into three stages: (i) the vent
(and/or the VRT function, sine or exponential), initial
time, tcu , intended to ensure a pure steam environment
temperature Ti , cooling temperature Tc and lethality
in the retort, during which the temperature increased
value Fo . It should be noted that the process time is the
time of heating and holding (i.e., excluding the cooling).
Quality retention and surface cook value were measured
at the end of processing (heating, holding and cooling
stages). For the present study, the research was focused
on the VRT function parameters, thus all others were
xed as follows: radius of can 42.8 mm, height
85.6 mm (D=H 1:0 and can volume 49:2  104
mm3 ; a 1:61  107 m2 =s; Zm 10 C; Dm 0:5
min, Zq 30 C, Dq 200 min, Ti 30 C; Tc 20 C
and Fo 6 min. The kinetic parameters (D and q) for
the microorganism (m) or quality factor (q) were cho-
sen from the normally used ranges (Ramaswamy &
Abdelrahim, 1991). The total lethality (F) was the total
of lethality accumulated during heating (Fh ) and cooling
(Fc ). The Rho-fraction (q), Fh =F , was given an initial
value of 0.5, and adjusted automatically by the program Fig. 1. Retort temperature for whole processing.
212 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
linearly from the initial temperature to 104 C; (ii) the
VRT stage in which the retort temperature was varied
according to a prescribed pattern (sine and exponential
functions); and (iii) cooling time tcd , during which the
retort temperature decreased from the maximum RT to
the cooling water temperature. In order to more eec-
tively evaluate the VRT functions during the hold time,
in this study, the come-up and come-down times were
assumed to be zero permitting the retort (and not the
product) to be changed to and from the VRT conditions
instantaneously.
Several functions can be used for VRT proles, and,
in this study, the sine and exponential functions were
evaluated (Fig. 1). Mathematically they are described as:



2p p
f1 t A1  1 sin t ; 3
Tm 2 mance of the network was measured by R2 and Er ob-
f2 t A2  1  ekt ; 4 tained as follows:
where A1 is amplitude of sine function, Tm is period time
of one cycle, min; A2 is range limitation of exponent
function and k is a rate constant related to the increasing
rate; t is process time, min.
2.3. Neural network modeling
A commercial software, NeuroShell Predictor (Wards
System Group, Frederick, MD 21703) was applied for
developing ANN models for each response variable re-
lated to the VRT function parameters. Developing an
ANN model included following steps:
1. Preparation of two independent data sets. Two sets
of data were prepared from the computer program. The
rst set was used for training the ANN model and the
second for testing the performance of the trained ANN
model. The success of an ANN model depends on both
the size and quality of data used for training. From this
point of view, the training data set is more important
than the testing data set. For this case, a full factorial
design was used for constructing the training data, and
testing data were gathered randomly.
2. Choice of ANN conguration. Neural networks
consist of several layers with each having a number of
processing elements called neurons. The number of hid-
den layers and their neurons depend on the problem to
be investigated. For the present study, only one hidden
layer was used and the number of neurons was optimized
during training. The number of neurons in input and
output layers will correspond to the number of input and
output variables. Neural network models can have mul-
tiple output variables simultaneously, but for the present
case the trained ANN models were to be used for tness
functions or constraint functions of GAs, meaning that
each response variable needed a separate ANN model.
Consequently an assortment of neural networks with one
neuron in output layer and dierent number of neurons
equal to those of the VRT function parameters was em-
ployed for the corresponding models. Other main con-
guration parameters included learning rule, transfer
function, learning rate, and momentum coecients.
Theoretically, the optimal conguration is dierent for
each special problem. For the present case, all of these
parameters were optimized automatically by the soft-
ware program during ANN training.
3. Training and testing of neural network. The neural
network is taught to construct the relationship between
input and output variables by repeatedly presenting a set
of known inputoutput patterns. For the present soft-
ware, the learning process stops when no better agree-
ment between the predicted and desired values are
found. The trained neural network model needed to be
tested with the data not used for training. The perfor-
Pn
2 yi  ydi 2
R 1  Pni1 2
; 5
i1 ydi  ym
P
jyi  ydi j
Er ; 6
nymax  ymin
where yi is predicted by the ANN model, ydi is actual
desired value (obtained from the computer simulation),
n is the number of data and ym is average of actual
values, R2 is the correlation coecient and Er is mean
relative error, and ymax and ymin is maximum and mini-
mum values of all actual values.
2.4. Genetic algorithm for optimization
An optimal value of VRT function parameters was to
be searched for by GAs combined with ANN models.
GAs search for an optimal value in parallel with a multi-
point search procedure by simulating the biological
evolutionary process, based on crossover as in genetics
(Goldberg, 1989; Holland, 1965). The multi-point search
procedure in the GA focuses its attention on the most
promising parts of the solution space and, consequently,
a global, near optimal value can be rapidly and e-
ciently sough from a very large search space. There are
three main operators in GAs: selection, crossover and
mutation. Selection means that two individuals from
the whole population of individuals are selected as
parents. The selection is dependent on the value of the
tness function of each individual. Crossover serves to
exchange the segments of selected parents between each
other according to a probability. Crossover is the main
operation which allows the exploration of the feature
space in order to nd a near to optimal solution. The
operation mutation consists in randomly altering the
value of each element of the chromosome according to a
probability which is called the mutation probability. For
 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
the present study, a commercial software, GeneHunter
(Wards System Group, Inc., Frederick, MD 21703) was
adopted to search for the optimal VRT proles. The
main operations for using genetic algorithms in this ap-
plication were as follows:
1. Determination of input variables and their adjustable
ranges. GAs can be applied for multi-variable optimi-
zation. In this study, the variables optimized were the
amplitude A1 and time period Tm for the sine function,
or A2 and k for the exponential function. The adjustable
range for each variable was based on the sensitivity
analysis of eects of independent variables on the main
response variables.
2. Choice of main tness function and additional tness
functions. The main tness function is one of the opti-
mization objectives, and additional tness functions are
usually called constraint conditions. There must be one
main tness function, but the additional tness func-
tions can be more than one, depending on the require-
Fig. 2. The procedure of optimization using genetic algorithms and
ANN models.
213
ments of the problem to be optimized. For optimization
of VRT processing, the main independent tness func-
tions were Minimum Fs , and Minimum Pt . The main
additional functions included some dierent combina-
tions such as Qv P Qvd and Fs 6 Fsd for Minimum Pt , and
Pt 6 Ptd for Minimum Fs , etc., where Fsd , Qvd and Ptd were
desired surface cooling value, average quality retention
and process time, respectively. These could be deter-
mined by the requirements of dierent situations. Since
in this case the one research objective was to compare
the dierence of VRT and CRT processing, thus those
based on the CRT processing conditions such as the best
retort temperature and general retort temperature (121
C) were used for the constraint conditions.
Fig. 2 shows the ow chart of procedure for optimi-
zation of VRT processing using genetic optimization.
First, an initial population of 20 types of individuals was
generated at random. Second, the related ANN model
was called to compute the tness for all initial individ-
uals. Third, the three operators: selection, crossover and
mutation were applied to produce a new generation. The
above operations were repeated until the given limita-
tion number N1 of generations was reached or no better
results were obtained after the given number N2 of
generations. For this case, N1 200, N2 50.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Variable retort temperature proles
Sine and exponential proles for the retort tempera-
ture were evaluated in this study. The characteristic
parameters A1 and Tm (sine function), and A2 and k
(exponential function) (Eqs. (3) and (4), respectively)
aect the temperature prole in the retort during the
process time and hence the delivered lethality as well as
the product quality. Typical proles under dierent
parametric values for each function are shown in Fig.
3(a) for the sine function and Fig. 3(b) for the expo-
nential function. Increasing the amplitude A1 of the sine
function results in larger temperature oscillations while
increasing the time period Tm which is analogous to the
wavelength decreases the frequency of oscillations. With
the exponential function, parameter A2 indicates the end
or maximum temperature of the retort, and hence higher
A2 means higher retort temperature. The parameter k
characterizes the temperature approach to the maximum
value and higher k values indicate a faster increase in the
retort temperature.
3.2. Eects of main parameters of variable functions on
quality parameters
Figs. 4(a)(c) show the computer simulation results
with the sine function. The process time decreased with
214 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3. Typical VRT proles under dierent parametric values: (a) sine function; (b) exponential function.
increasing amplitude (A1 ) and the eect curves of time
period (Tm ) on the process time (Pt ) are somewhat like
sine waves (Fig. 4(a)). In addition, with A1 5, the eect
of Tm on Pt was very small while with A1 13, the eect
became more apparent. It meant that there existed an
interaction between A1 and Tm . The eect of A1 and Tm
on surface cook value (Fs ) was relatively more complex
(Fig. 4(b)). The shapes of the dierent curves were quite
dierent. The Fs values associated with A1 13 showed
a convex trend and reached a maximum midway be-
tween the Tm of 40 and 80 min, meaning that the lower
Tm value (40 min) or higher Tm (80 min) improved the
surface quality. For A1 11, the minimum Fs values
were located at Tm 50 min and Tm 80 min. However,
the minimum Fs value with A1 7 was found between
Tm 60 and 70 min. A comparison of the minimum
Fs values with the dierent A1 values showed that with
A1 7 or 9 gave the smallest within the experimental
ranges of Tm . This meant that the good surface quality
was dependent on a combination of both A1 and Tm . The
eect of dierent A1 on average quality retention Qv
were small and Qv with A1 5 was the lowest. The eect
of Tm on Qv was also dependent on the A1 value. When
A1 5, the eect of Tm on Qv was very small while at
other A1 values, Qv changed noticeably with period time
Tm . It can be concluded that in order to get both good
quality of canned food and reduce the process time, it is
necessary to choose a suitable combination of amplitude
A1 and time period Tm .
Figs. 5(a)(c) show the computer simulation experi-
ments with the exponential function. The process time Pt
reduced quickly by increasing the rate constant k from
0.005 to 0.1, but then remained rate constant for k P 0:1
(Fig. 5(a)). The eect of k on Fs was inverse as compared
to Pt (Fig. 5(b)). When k 6 0:01, the change of Fs was
almost constant while for k > 0:01, Fs increased with
increasing of k value. This demonstrated that a k value of
about 0.02 may be necessary to obtain both good surface
quality and short process time. In addition, Pt increased
with decreasing A2 values regardless of k value; but eect
of A2 on the Fs was strongly dependent on the k value.
This was especially true when k > 0:01, Fs then increased
almost exponentially with k and A2 . There existed a
maximum Qv for each A2 value but the optimal areas of k
for dierent A2 were dierent (Fig. 5(c)). It follows that
a number of dierent reasonable combinations of A2
 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220 215

(a) (a)

(b)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 4. Computer simulation results of the VRT processing with sine

function: r A1 13; j A1 11; N A1 9;  A1 7; A1 5.
(a) Process time, Pt . (b) Surface cook value, Fs . (c) Average quality
retention, Qv .
and rate constant k would exist to meet with dier-
ent objectives such as maximum average quality reten-
tion, minimum surface cook value or minimum process
time.
By comparison of experimental results of both VRT
functions, it was found that VRT processing with an
exponential function was more benecial for improving
surface quality and saving process time because the
minimum Pt and Fs values were much lower than those
obtained with sine functions.
(c)
Fig. 5. Computer simulation results of the VRT processing with ex-
ponential function: r A2 31; j A2 26; N A2 20; 
A2 14. (a) Process time, Pt . (b) Surface cook value, Fs . (c) Average
quality retention, Qv .
3.3. Neural network modeling
In order to use GAs to search the optimal process-
ing conditions, objective tness functions have to be
used to guide the search direction. Usually mathematical
models are used as tness functions. However based
on the above computer simulation experiments, it was
216 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 6. The prediction performance of ANN models for the VRT
processing with sine function: (a) process time; (b) surface cook value;
(c) average quality retention.
apparent that the relationship between the VRT func-
tion parameters and various response variables: Pt , Fs
and Qv were nonlinear and complex, and not easily de-
scribed by a simple mathematical model. Thus, the
neural network concept was used for developing various
models required by GAs for optimization.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 7. The prediction performance of ANN models for the VRT
processing with the exponential function: (a) process time; (b) surface
cook value; (c) average quality retention.
Each ANN model was trained by a set of data which
was constructed by a full factorial design and the per-
formance of trained ANN model was then tested by
another set of independent data not used for training.
Figs. 6 and 7 show the test results of ANN models for
sine and exponential functions, respectively. These g-
ures show that the ANN predicted values closely mat-
ched the results of computer simulation experiments.
 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220 217

Table 1
Correlation coecient and relative error for performance of ANN modeling
Statistic Sinusoidal Exponential
Pt Fs Qv Pt Fs Qv
R2 0.988 0.979 0.967 0.987 0.999 0.978
Eavg (%) 1.13 1.24 1.88 2.13 1.87 1.34

Table 2
Main tness function, constraints and optimal results
Fitness function Constraints Function parameters Response variables
k A2 Pt (min) Fs (min) Qv (%)
Minimum Pt Fs 6 66a min 0.14 16.20 80.3 (105)b 66.0 62.4
Fs 6 73c min 0.16 18.73 72.2 (83)b 72.8 61.6
Qv P 60%a 0.17 22.47 62.5 (105)b 83.0 60.0
Minimum Fs Pt 6 106a min 0.063 14.00 105.8 61.7 (66)b 61.0
Pt 6 83c min 0.140 15.07 82.9 65.0 (73)b 62.6
Qv P 60%a 0.006 21.8 118.09 61.01 (66)b 60.09
a
At best CRT temperature, 115 C.
b
From CRT.
c
At the common CRT temperature, 120 C.

The associated statistical results are summarized in Based on the above computer simulation experi-
Table 1. The high R2 ( P 0.967) and low mean relative ments, the adjustable ranges for each independent
error (Er 6 2:13%) conrmed that the neural network variable were determined as: 14 < A2 < 31 (i.e., maxi-
models can adequately describe the relationship between mum retort temperature set between 118 and 135 C)
VRT function parameters and each response variable.
Consequently, it was reliable for the trained ANN
models to be employed as tness functions in GAs.

3.4. Genetic algorithm for optimization

The main objective of applying VRT processing is to

obtain the better quality or shorter process time than
under CRT processing. Computer simulation experi-
ments showed the optimal retort temperature for best
surface quality, under CRT processing, to be around
115 C. This resulted in a process time (Pt ) of 106 min,
surface cook value of Fs 66 min, and average quality
retention (Qv ) of 60.5%. With a retort temperature of
120 C (called common temperature), the corresponding
values were: Pt 83 min, Fs 73 min and Qv 60%.
Compared with the above CRT results, it was found
that the eect of VRT processing for average quality
retention Qv was not very signicant. For example, the
maximum Qv under the exponential function was 62%,
only slightly better than that from CRT processing.
This was consistent with the results previously reported
by several researchers (Nadkarni & Hatton, 1985; Saguy
& Karel, 1979; Teixeira et al., 1975). For the VRT
processing with the sine function it was dicult to either
get better quality or shorter process time than those
from the best CRT processing. Therefore, the following
optimization concentrated on VRT processing with the Fig. 8. The eects of genetic parameters on GAs performance: (a) the
exponential function, and the optimization objectives eects of initial population and crossover rate on Pt ; (b) the eects of
were limited to process time and surface cook value. crossover rate and mutation rate on Pt .
218 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 9. The optimization process and results for minimum surface cook
value Fs : (a) constraint function Pt 6 106 min; (b) constraint function
Pt 6 83 min; (c) constraint function Qv P 60%.
and 0:005 < k < 0:2. The main tness function and
additional (constraint) tness functions are listed in
Table 2.
Usually, the performance of GAs is aected by the
size of initial population, crossover rate and mutation
rate. The best tness of process time Pt remained con-
stant under dierent crossover rates, mutation rates and
initial population sizes (Figs. 8(a) and (b)). This indi-
cated that the eect of the genetic parameter changes
on the performance of GA was not signicant. Thus,
the default values: initial population 20, crossover
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 10. The optimization process and results for minimum process
time Pt : (a) constraint function Fs 6 65 min; (b) constraint function
Ft 6 73 min; (c) constraint function Qv P 60%.
rate 0.9 and mutation rate 0.01 were adopted for the
following optimization searching.
Figs. 9 and 10 show the optimization processes for
minimum Fs and Pt using GAs. Optimal results were
found before 100 generations, meaning that the designed
number of 200 generations was sucient to nd the
optimal VRT results. The optimal results for both in-
dependent variables and dependent variables are sum-
marized in Table 2. VRT processing with optimal
parameters reduced the process time signicantly. For
example, when Fs 66 min, the process time with VRT
 C.R. Chen, H.S. Ramaswamy / Journal of Food Engineering 53 (2002) 209220
processing was 80.3 min while that with CRT was 106
min, a more than 20% improvement in process time. If
the Qv of 60% (best CRT processing) could be used as
the constraint condition, the process time could be
reduced by 3040% using the VRT processing with
optimal parameter A2 22:47 and k 0:17. The VRT
process also lowered the surface cook value of the
product as compared with the CRT process. The im-
provement of surface quality Fs was about 710%,
somewhat lower when compared with lowering of pro-
cess time. Nevertheless, it is an improvement in the right
direction. These results conrm that VRT processing
can reduce process time and improve quality of the
canned food.
Further comparisons of VRT and CRT processing
on the process time and surface quality are presented
in Figs. 11(a) and (b). Fig. 11(a) shows the results of
minimum process time (Pt ) of both VRT and CRT under
dierent surface cook values (Fs ) as constraint condi-
tions while Fig. 11(b) shows those of minimum Fs under
dierent Pt as constraint conditions. The shadowed
areas in Figs. 11(a) and (b) indicate the advantages of
VRT processing over CRT processing on Pt and Fs , re-
spectively. The benets of VRT processing can be easily
Fig. 11. Comparisons of VRT and CRT processing on the optimal
results of process time and surface cook value: (a) surface cook value
as constraint condition; (b) process time as constraint condition.
219
recognized from this gure. If higher surface cook values
(or lowered product quality) can be tolerated, the ad-
vantage of VRT over CRT diminishes to about 10% in
the range shown in the gure. On the other hand if low
surface cook values (better product quality) are desired,
the VRT approach can reduce the process time by as
much as 30%. This is possible because such low values of
Fs can only be achieved under CRT process by em-
ploying lower retort temperatures, which increases the
process time.
The results of these optimal conditions generated by
GA and ANN models were also validated by the com-
puter simulation. The average relative errors were as
follows: for minimum process time the error was <2.1%
and for minimum Fs , the error was <1.57%, indicating
the reliability of Neural network and GAs for optimi-
zation of VRT processing.
4. Conclusions
The study shows the feasibility of using ANN mod-
eling and GA searching techniques to model and opti-
mize VRT processing. In this study only two VRT
functions, sine and exponential, were evaluated. The
VRT processing with the exponential function showed
greater improvements for Pt and Fs than with the sine
function. Compared with CRT processing, the VRT
processing with optimal function parameters reduced
process time by up to 20% and surface cook value by
about 710%. The prediction performance of ANN
models and validation of GA optimal results conrmed
the reliability of this approach. It may be possible to
further improve the performance by using alternate
functions and procedures, which are being currently
explored.
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