Conventionally, there are known microwave irradiation apparatuses for irradiating microwaves (electromagnetic waves) on a content, thereby performing heating or the like of the content. See, for example, JP 2006-516008A (Tokuhyo).
Conventional heating using a heater is external heating that gradually applies heat from the surface of a material toward the internal portion by thermal conduction, radiation, convection, or the like. Meanwhile, heating using microwaves is characterized in that it is internal heating that causes a material itself to generate heat. The heating using microwaves is further characterized in that it is rapid heating compared with conventional heating using thermal conduction or the like. Since heating using microwaves is internal heating and rapid heating in this manner, it may cause thermal runaway by rapidly heating part of an irradiation target. Also, there is another problem in which such an abnormality cannot be easily detected because the microwave irradiation region is typically shielded and cannot be observed from the outside.
The present invention was arrived at in order to solve the above-described problems, and it is an aspect thereof to provide an information processing apparatus and the like capable of easily judging whether or not an abnormality related to microwaves has occurred in a microwave irradiation apparatus.