New food freezing concept improves quality, increases safety, cuts energy use

Shifting to a new food freezing method could make for safer and better-quality frozen foods while saving energy and reducing carbon emissions,

these savings could be achieved without requiring any significant changes in current manufacturing equipment and infrastructure.

The new freezing method, called isochoric freezing, works by storing foods in a sealed, rigid container—typically made of hard plastic or metal—completely filled with a liquid such as water.

Unlike conventional freezing in which the food is exposed to the air and freezes solid at temperatures below 0ºC, isochoric freezing preserves food without turning it to solid ice.

As long as the food stays immersed in the liquid portion, it is protected from ice crystallization, which is the main threat to food quality.

Energy savings come from not having to freeze foods completely solid, which uses a huge amount of energy, plus there is no need to resort to energy-intensive cold storage protocols such as quick freezing to avoid ice crystal formation.

Isochoric freezing also allows for higher quality storage of fresh foods such as tomatoes, sweet cherries and potatoes that are otherwise difficult to preserve with conventional freezing.

Another benefit of isochoric freezing is that it also kills microbial contaminants during processing.

Isochoric freezing is a cross-cutting technology with promising applications in not only the food industry, but in medicine, biology, even space travel.