Innovation is the driving factor of all the industries; thus, even in the food and beverage sector, new technologies are making the process easy and faster.

FREMONT, CA: While exploring what is new and exciting with freezing and chilling equipment, three examples stood out. They are leveraging new methods to keep refrigerated and frozen foods at the apt temperature. Messer has a freezer for a particular type of challenge food such as hot products like cooked, marinated chicken. Viking Cold Solution’s thermal energy storage technology is gaining popularity because of its utility incentives and energy efficiency target. Tippmann Engineering has developed its QuickFreeze In-Rack freezing system to be even better; the units are now modular; therefore, the users can run the ones with pallets placed in front of them, while the other units at the open rack spots turn off to save energy.

Freezing of hot products

A new hot product freezer utilizes a high-velocity flow of cryogen for high heat transfer to help seal in moisture for cooked products, like marinated chicken wings, fillets, and breasts. It can get rid of the ice or snow particles formed naturally as steam flashes from hot or moist cooked foods. The tunnel freezer merges the cryogenic and crossflow technologies to reduce the dehydration losses by five times compared to the mechanical methods and up to three times over conventional cryogenic freezers.

Thermal energy storage

The cold and frozen food processors must know that some of the most significant energy users on the market can wring out value with thermal energy storage. This is an issue and an opportunity that owners and operators can take advantage of. The basics of the technology is rapidly expanding as processors and storage facilities look for assistance with rising energy costs, sustainability goals, and power outage protection.

Freeze each pallet on its schedule

Freezing technology is being taken to a whole new level. QuickFreeze In-Rack freezing system, which was there since 2008, and works differently than blast freezers by pulling cold air from the spaces in pallets to freeze the food solid more quickly—down into the middle of the stack. Now the freezer is back with an improved model, QFM. Each pallet position gets its cooling unit with an individual fan and plenum, and the units shut down automatically when no pallet is in place, saving energy.

See Also: Top Food and Beverages Solution Companies