Station 05 of 06

Cold & Energy

Cold and energy is the station that chills and freezes food to hold its quality and extend its shelf life. Freezing stops the growth of spoilage organisms and slows chemical change, but it must be fast enough to protect texture: slow freezing forms large ice crystals that damage cell structure and cause drip loss on thawing. Blast freezers move cold air at high velocity over product to bring it through the critical freezing zone quickly, and come as batch rooms, trolley freezers, spiral freezers and tunnel freezers. Refrigeration is also a major energy load in a food plant, so this station has a major effect on running cost and on a site's environmental footprint. Buyers weigh freezing time for their product, refrigerant choice and its regulatory future, energy efficiency, defrost arrangements, hygienic design of the freezer interior and how the freezer fits the line's throughput. Cold equipment links processing to frozen storage and distribution.