Page 167 - Praxair - Specialty Gases and Equipment Reference Guide

Food

Overview

The Praxair Food Technology Lab Food Freezing and Chilling
At Praxair, our Food Technologies Lab provides our Food freezing/cooling/chilling is the process of using direct
customers with the best-fit technology tailored to meet contact of a cryogen to control or adjust temperature to a
specific food freezing and processing needs. And while our frozen or chilled state. Both inline and batch type freezing
methods are advanced, our goal is very simple: to help you equipment can be designed to use carbon dioxide or
deliver high quality food and beverage products to your nitrogen to freeze, cool or chill the food. The speed of
customers. cryogenic refrigeration helps prevent product degradation,
the product retains natural juices and color, and dehydration
In our Food Technologies Lab, we can analyze your process is drastically reduced.
and provide you with recommendations on how to improve
the quality and consistency of your product. Our lab is a Almost any food product, (e.g., meat, chicken, fish, dairy,
full-time facility that has been in operation for over 30 years. bakery, prepared foods, fruit, vegetables, etc.) can benefit
Our experienced and dedicated technicians make their from cooling or freezing, depending on the customer’s needs.
recommendations based on their expertise and the Freezing is generally regarded as a food preservation
evaluation of data collected from thousands of tests on technique. A customer considers freezing or chilling a food
actual food products, in-lab thermal analyses and product product to obtain higher quality products, extend shelf life,
testing on production-scale equipment. We will collect data expand the distribution area, and make product handling
on the thermal characteristics of your product, determine easier.
parameters for your freezing and chilling equipment, show
what your product looks and tastes like after freezing, The consequences of not achieving the desired final
and recommend ways to better meet your goals. We are temperature include:
equipped to answer your most difficult product and pro- n Product handling problems
cessing questions so that you can optimize your system. n Non-compliance with quality assurance (QA)
So whether it’s maximizing yield, boosting production or specifications or government regulations
perfecting your finished product, our experts are ready to n Shorter shelf life or reduced product quality
help with a customized assessment of your operation. n Supplemental freezing

Proper temperature control (cryogenic freezing or chilling)
can greatly reduce (or slow) the loss of food product quality
caused by bacteria growth, staling, oxidation and mold
growth. This application also can overcome mechanical
handling problems encountered in processes like packaging,
slicing, dicing and other processing.

What is cryogenic freezing?
Freezing is a change in the physical state of a food product
when energy, in the form of heat, is removed, changing the
water in the food from the liquid state to a solid state.
Praxair specializes in cryogenic freezing using nitrogen or
carbon dioxide at low temperatures to quickly freeze food
products locking in moisture and product quality.
What is cryogenic chilling?
Cryogenic chilling is the removal of heat from raw and fresh
Food
processed foods, cooked or baked foods, and produce at
ambient temperatures. Quickly cooling food products is an
important step to ensure food safety and improve overall
yield.
Praxair specializes in rapid chilling using liquid carbon
dioxide and employ’s innovative new applications using
liquid nitrogen.

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