COMPLETE HAND BOOK ON FROZEN FOOD PROCESSING AND FREEZE DRYING TECHNOLOGY

The book Complete Hand Book on Frozen Food Processing and Freeze Drying Technology covers  Freezing of Fruits & Vegetables, Preservation of Fruits and Vegetables, Freezing of Vegetables, Frozen Block Process for Vegetable or Fruit convenience Foods, Method for Producing Frozen Vegetable Food Material having  soft texture, Preparation of Frozen Food (Cooked Burdocks), Seasoning Individually Quick Frozen Vegetables,  Freezing of Bakery and Dessert Products, Banana Based Frozen Nondairy Dessert, Coated Frozen Cheese Granules, Aerated Frozen Dessert Compositions, Non-Fat Frozen Dairy Product, Method of Preparing a Frozen Dairy Desserts, ICE Cream Maker, Method of Making Frozen Patties, Method for Making Frozen  Drinks, Frozen Dessert Dispensing Apparatus, Miscellaneous Laminated Frozen Food Product, Frozen Comestibles, Apparatus and Method for Dispensing Frozen Aquarium Food, Frozen Cat Food, Hard Frozen Food Containing Alcohol, High Protein Frozen Food Product, Microwave Heating of Certain Frozen Foods, Freeze Drying, Process and Apparatus for thawing frozen food, Frozen Food Masticating Machine, Apparatus for Defreezing Frozen Foods, Machine for Cutting  Frozen Foods, Electrically Heated Frozen Food Server, Household Appliance for Making Frozen Food Products, Frozen Food Transport.

Preface

Frozen food has revolutionized the way people are able to receive and store foods like fruit, vegetables, convenience foods and meats. Based on freezing techniques from arctic communities, meats and fish were frozen in ice to last through the winter and was adopted to prevent spoilage in the 1700s and 1800s in the United States. While freezing and packaging technology has changed through the years, frozen food as we know it today was invented and popularized in the 1920s and 1930s. Birdseye took the technique home to New York in 1922 and began experimenting with freezing food at a local refrigeration company. His result was quick freezing of packaged foods but consumer interest waned. In 1925 Birdseye patented a new invention, which froze food under pressure between belts pumped with a brine solution to freeze vegetables and meats in their packaging. This procedure allowed the frozen foods to be easily sold to consumers. The invention took off, and he sold his company, the General Seafood Co., and patents to Goldman Sachs and the Postum Co. The resulting corporation was food giant General Foods. Commercial freezing is based on well established modern technologies and there can be no comparison of freezing with any other technology in keeping the original quality of food in tact. If most of the foods available in the western markets belong to the frozen category, the reason is that consumers have come to recognize that these products meet with their expectations fully. Further fillip to the frozen food industry was received when microwave heating system became omnipotent in almost all kitchens making it easier to thaw and reheat for  consumption.
The extraordinary success of frozen food industry in many richcountries is also attributable to the high per capita income, excellent transportation facilities, efficient nation-wide infrastructure, adequate storage facilities at homes and above all the predominance of animal based diet that cannot be preserved by other processes as efficiently as the freezing process. Freeze drying is the process of dehydrating frozen foods under a vacuum so the moisture content changes directly from a solid to a gaseous form without having to undergo the intermediate liquid state through sublimation. In this process, the product maintains its original size and shape with a minimum of cell rupture. Removing moisture prevents a product from deteriorating at room temperature. The process is used for drying and preserving a number of food products, including meats, vegetables, fruits, and instant coffee products. The dried product will be the same size and shape as the original frozen material and will be found to have excellent stability and convenient reconstitution when placed in water.
Freeze dried products will maintain nutrients, colour, flavour, and texture often indistinguishable from the original product. Depending on the product and the packaging environment, freeze dried foods are shelf-stable at room temperature for up to twenty five years or more, if canned, and between 6 months to 3 years if stored in a poly-bag container. Benefits of Freeze-Drying

• Retains original characteristics of the product, including: colour, form, size, taste, texture and nutrients
• Reconstitutes to original state when placed in water
• Shelf stable at room temperature – cold storage not required
• The weight of the freeze-dried products is reduced by 70 to 90 percent, with no change in volume
• The product is light weight and easy to handle
• Shipping costs are reduced because of the light weight and lack of refrigeration
• Low water activity virtually eliminates microbiological concerns
• Offers highest quality in a dry product compared to other drying methods
• Virtually any type of food or ingredient, whether solid or liquid, can be freeze-dried

This book describes the current frozen food processing and freeze drying technologies to preserve food and the best practices to ensure production of safe, high-quality frozen food and it’s transportation including colour, form, size, taste, texture and nutrients etc.. It also points to some new technologies that are already making waves and are likely to cast an even greater impact on the frozen food industry in the future.