Pasteurization of convenience meals in hermetically sealed containers

A device for pasteurizing food by microwave in hermetically sealed packets, comprising:

• a conveyor belt and means for moving the hermetically sealed packets of food through a microwave chamber,
• a microwave source which heats the food with microwaves to pasteurization temperatures as it passes through the microwave chamber, wherein:
• atmospheric ambient pressure prevails in the microwave chamber,
• at least one solid cooling element is provided in the microwave chamber, which cooling element is arranged thermally conductive on at least one contact surface of the packet, so that the packets are cooled by contact through at least one surface when passing the microwave chamber in such a way that, during microwave heating, any excess pressure due to water vapor inside the hermetically sealed pack is reduced by cooling and condensation on the cooled surface, and
• wherein the microwave source is adapted for heating the food in the hermetically sealed packets to a temperature of 65 to 90 degrees Celsius, and the cooling element simultaneously cools a surface of the packets to a temperature below 20 degrees Celsius.