Superchilling Concepts Enabling Safe, High Quality and Long Term Storage of Foods

AbstractSuperchilling is a concept where the temperature is reduced 1-2°C below the initial freezing point of the product. This results in a so-called ‘shell freezing’, where a thin layer of ice is produced on the product surface during processing. The small amount of ice formed within the product serves as a heat sink, eliminating the need for ice during storage and transport. As an illustration, chilled haddock fillets have approximately 30% higher environmental impact potential than superchilled fillets due to the need for ice during storage and transport. During storage, the ice distribution equalizes and the product obtains a uniform temperature and the product appears as fresh. Consumer market analysis gives superchilled products as good as or better quality score compared with chilled products. xperiments on different superchilled and chilled food products shows a prolonged shelf life for all superchilled products compared to chilled products. For superchilled salmon and chicken fillets, the shelf life is 50% longer compared to chilled reference products based on total count of microorganism and a quality limit of 107 CFU/g. Superchilled experiments have shown that the method is robust and appropriate for implementation to the industry, owing to the fact that ice fractions can very between 5-20% without being of major importance to the product quality. Superchilling enable safe, high quality and long term storage of foods. The main advantage is the approximate doubling of shelf life for superchilled products compared to chilled products, high product quality, higher yield and the potential for reduced environmental impacts (approximately 30%) when changing from chilled to superchilled value chains