Industrial carryover cooking

A system for thermal processing of food products:

• an oven for heating food products, the oven operating under selected operating parameters;
• a buffer area operating under selected operational parameters for receiving and holding food products heated in the oven for a selected time period before further processing of the food products;
• a temperature determining system comprising at least one temperature measuring device for measuring the temperature of the food product during the thermal processing of the food product and producing data related thereto;
• a control system comprising a computing device, the control system:
• operational to receive the operational parameters of at least one of the oven and the buffer area, and to receive the temperature measurement data;
• operational to use the temperature measurement data to determine over time the temperature equilibration of the interior of the food product after leaving the oven to model the lethality of pathogenic microorganisms in the interior of the food product;
• and
• operational to adjust one or more of the operational parameters of at least one of the oven and buffer areas as needed to achieve a desired lethality of the pathogenic microorganisms in the interior of the food product.