This paper deals with the performance evaluation of ohmic cooking process by applying exergy analysis. Cylindrically shaped ground beef samples with different fat contents (2%, 9% and 15%) were used as the test material being cooked. The cooking process was conducted at three different voltage gradients (20, 30 or 40 V/cm) up to 80 degrees C. The effects of voltage gradient applied and the initial fat content of sample on the energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, exergy loss and improvement potential were investigated. The energy and exergy efficiency values for ohmic cooking process at the voltage gradients between 20 and 40 V/cm were found to be in the range of 0.69-0.91% and 63.2-89.2%, respectively. It was determined that the system should have been improved energetically especially for samples having high initial fat contents cooked at the low voltage gradients, since improvement potential values predicted were highest at this conditions. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.