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The Effect of Using Different Vessels in Microwave on the Alteration of Total Protein Level of Milk: An FTIR Study

In developing world, since people have less time to cook food, microwave ovens are 
commonly used. Despite the fact that it’s a pratic method, its advantages and disadvantes are being 
debated. While there have been several studies on how food is affected by heat treatment or effects 
of microwave on nutritional values of food, there is less knowledge as to how does using different 
vessels in microwave affect the nutritional values of food. Thus, this paper aimed to observe the 
effect of using different vessels in microwave on food and used milk as a vehicle for this purpose. 
Since “food” and “nutritional value” are broad concepts, research was narrowed down to “milk” 
and “total protein level alteration”. Since very little research has been done on how protein value 
of pasteurized milk may be affected, the scope of the experiment was limited to brand Sutas®’s 
pasteurized milk and 5 vessels that can be used in microwave: glass, porcelain, plastic, Styrofoam 
and carton. Milk was microwaved in these 5 vessels respectively and milk samples were scanned 
using an FTIR Spectrometer. FTIR Spectrometer was connected to Perkin Elmer Spectrum® 
programme on the computer. As a result of the scans, the programme drew and absorbance versus 
wavelength graphs. Results were analyzed by interpreting these graphs. 
In absorbance versus wavelength graphs, areas under amide peaks are related with total 
protein level. Thus, changes in these area values are associated with total protein level alteration. 
As a result of this experiment, it was found that the maximum total protein level alteration was in 
milk that was heated in plastic whereas the minimum alteration was in milk that was heated in 
glass. Based on the results, it was evaluated that as vessels reflect microwaves, they transmit more 
heat to the organic matter that is being heated in them. Since glass is thicker than plastic, it absorbs 
more microwaves and transmits less heat to milk and eventually causes less alteration in the total 
protein value of the milk. Overall, all results supported the hypothesis that as the absorbance of 
vessels increase, alteration in the total protein level decreases.