Recent advances in oven and dryer technology are only the tip of the iceberg, experts claim. Here's what you might find in the offing. "The next major breakthrough will be non-invasive ways of measuring core temperature," says Jan Gaydos, director of marketing and the Food Processing Tech Center of FMC FoodTech. "It's a difficult challenge. The more overcooking, the less yield. But you can't afford to have undercooked product. We're looking into high tech ways of measuring core temperature without probing directly into the product."

"We have gone as far as to look at systems like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to see the contrast between cooked and uncooked product," says James Padilla, director of product development for Heat & Control, Inc. "Can we correlate an MRI image with a desirably cooked product? So far it looks like it will work with some products, not with others. But the technology, as it applies to food processing, is still in its infancy."