State of the Art: Superchilling in the Food Processing Industry

Summary

Controlled partial freezing or superchilling of food products can result in significant shelf life extensions during the cold chain. Between 10 % - 20 % of the foods water content is frozen and the ice functions as a thermal inertia during storage and transportation. Superchilling in industry can reduce the use of freezing/thawing for production buffers and thereby reduce labor, energy costs and product weight losses. Superchilled products sustain quality parameters commonly associated with fresh/unfrozen products, however some increase in product drip loss may occurring during storage. Implementation of superchilling in industrial process plants and routines require a strict temperature control in the cold chain. Understanding and quantifying thermo-physical processes at and inside the food surface are important for the optimal design of superchilling equipment and packing systems for food products. A review on the most recent superchilling developments is given on the example of meat and fish products.