The Story of Frozen Food and Why It Can Be Better Than Fresh

The Story of Frozen Food

Facts about frozen food and the results of doing it properly. The ability to freeze and preserve food properly is a great asset when planning a balanced diet. Fresh is usually better but under certain circumstances frozen is better. Here we go over why sometimes freezing food has a less than desirable outcome and why.

Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning residual moisture into ice, inhibiting the growth of most bacterial species.

In the food commodity industry, there are two processes: mechanical and cryogenic (or flash freezing). The freezing kinetics is important to preserve food quality and texture. Quicker freezing generates smaller ice crystals and maintains cellular structure. Cryogenic freezing is the quickest freezing technology available due to the ultra-low liquid nitrogen temperature of −196 °C (−320 °F). More about Frozen Food . . .