Food freezing is very important in the food industry. It is used to preserve different types of foods and increase the shelf life of these foods. There are different freezing technologies and they are used for different kinds of foods.
- Box Freezers
They are also known as cartoon freezers. In these box freezers, the products which are packed are sorted, transported and then stored in shelves in a storage which has cold blasts of air. These boxes are then left there for a long time. They have an automated mechanism and require very less manpower. But these types of freezers have one disadvantage which is that they cannot be used for all types of products.
- Contact Freezers
Conduction is the main method of heat transfer used by contact freezers. In contact freezers, the food comes in contact with a cold surface and it is then frozen.
- Cryogenic Freezers
These types of freezers use different gases which are liquefiable such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide. These gases are used by these freezers for producing vapours and then these vapours freeze the products.
- Plate Freezers
Plate freezers are one more type of freezers used for freezing products. These are usually used for freezing flat products like fish fillets, pastries and beef patties. They can also be used for freezing irregular shaped products like broccoli and cauliflower. The main benefit of these freezers is that the food gets frozen quickly and they are very easy to install and clean.
- Belt Freezers
There are different types of belt freezers like single, multi or spiral belt freezers. These freezers use vertical airflow and then the cold air is forced through a layer. The cold air is then distributed over the belt area. Few products that can be frozen in the belt freezers are meat patties, fish cakes and fillets. These foods can be frozen or unpackaged.
- Air Blast Freezers
Air Blast freezers are also commonly known as cold storage freezer and these are the oldest type of freezers. These freezers involve very low investment and the method is very simple. These types of freezers are suitable for freezing large and unprocessed products but the thing which should be kept in mind is that it is a slow method of freezing. One advantage of these types of freezer is that they can also be used for freezing different types of products.
Conclusion
These are the main types of freezers which are available in the market. However, there are some other equipment too which can be used for different products. You should check all the other types of freezers available in the market, their uses, way of using them, products they can freeze and also compare their prices before buying one.
All of these freezers work very differently from each other and the products which can be frozen in them are also very different. Some of them are very easy to use while others require a little effort so you should choose a freezer according to your needs.