The simple definition of a blast freezer is a freezer which is extremely cold. They can sometimes be referred too as ‘shock freezers.’ The concept behind shock freezers is to quickly reduce the temperature of food products or fresh produce in order to reduce the metabolic processes significantly.
They are often used in the food industry for products such as ice cream, ready meals, fish and vegetable products. Commercial kitchens also use blast freezers for cold storage.
Why Freeze Products Quickly?
The reason that food providers choose blast freezing is in fact very scientific and addresses the physical make up of living organisms. Living organisms are all mostly comprised of water. It is this water inside that crystallises into ice. The length of time the freezing proccess takes has a direct effect on the final quality of the product. Larger crystals can damage materials by causing conditions such as cell bursting which reduced the quality of the food.
Blast freezing is a rapid form of freezing which minimises the damage and preserves food at a higher quality. The convenience of blast freezing means that frozen items can then be moved to a normal freezer for long term storage provided the new freezer is cold enough to sustain the low temperature.
How Do You Blast Freeze?
Most blast freezers use blower fans which emit cold air across the contents of the freezer which causes rapid chilling. Blast freezers vary in terms of design and functionality and some are equipped with trays or pallets that are adjustable, allowing users to position foods into various compartments for freezing.
A standard blast freezer can normally handle foods at room temperature or even hot food provided the capacity of the freezer is not exceeded beyond recommended limitations. The inclusion of too much hot food would gradually increase the temperature of the blast freezer - negating the effects of rapid freezing.
Safer Freezing
Apart from the obvious advantages such as a higher quality, better tasting product, blast freezing offers health and safety benefits. The extreme temperature dramatically slows down metabolic activity. This means bacteria growth is slowed and there is a greatly reduced risk of contamination providing food is handled safely and subjected to freezing immediately after preparation.
The food safety advantage is the reason why blast freezers are incredibly popular in commercial food preparation areas as the food providers can reduce the risk for consumers and end users.
Are you looking to safely store food using blast freezers?
We have several blast freezers available to suit your needs. View our range of blast freezers here.
