Conserving Cryogen, Reducing Costs, Increasing Flavor, Retaining Moisture
What is pre-chilling?
Pre-chilling, in this case, literally means to crust freeze a product quickly prior to further freezing or processing. Typically this is done using a cryogenic freezer upstream of a spiral freezer. The pre-chilling step enhances product quality, improves yield and may increase production levels.
Product Benefits
Product quality is enhanced because flavor and moisture are quickly sealed in rather than being lost through dripping or water evaporation, as often occurs during a traditional freezing process. Marinated meats retain more liquid and hot products keep their moisture – your profits don’t go up in steam.
| Pre-chilling is especially useful when processing high-value or delicate products like: |
Or with products that are: |
|
Cooked, raw and marinated poultry |
Yield sensitive |
|
Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) seafood |
Hot or steam cooked |
|
Red meat—cooked, raw or marinated |
Difficult to handle - extremely wet |
|
Individually Quick Frozen (IQF)) fruit and berries |
Sliced, diced or shredded |
| Prepared entreés, appetizers, convenience foods |
Battered and breaded |
Operation Benefits
In addition to the product quality gains, using pre-chill improves overall operations by lowering costs by reducing yield losses. Production is increased and sanitation is improved—less product is left on belts for later clean up which improves profits.
Cryogenic pre-chilling combined with either a mechanical freezing process or upstream from a cryogenic system lets users capture the benefits of both systems. Pre-chill units have a small footprint and relatively low capital costs, so they are easily incorporated into existing floor plans. Get an idea of the cooling economics by using our online pre-chill calculator and request a customized assessment of your operation.
Maintain your equipment systems using equipment-specific replacement parts. Submit your request online.