Frozen food

[1] Freezing food slows decomposition by turning residual moisture into ice, inhibiting the growth of most bacterial species.

An initiative by a supermarket group in 2012 (backed by the UK's Waste & Resources Action Programme) promotes the freezing of food "as soon as possible up to the product's 'use by' date".

Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), a tasteless and odorless stabilizer, is typically added to frozen food because it does not adulterate the quality of the product.

In 1861 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort established at Darling Harbour in Sydney, Australia, the world's first freezing works, which later became the New South Wales Fresh Food and Ice Company.

Mort financed experiments by Eugene Dominic Nicolle, a French born engineer who had arrived in Sydney in 1853 and registered his first ice-making patent in 1861.

By March 1899, the "British Refrigeration and Allied Interests" reported that a food importing business, "Baerselman Bros", was shipping some 200,000 frozen geese and chickens per week from three Russian depots to New Star Wharf, Lower Shadwell, London over three or four winter months.

This trade in frozen food was enabled by the introduction of Linde cold air freezing plants in three Russian depots and the London warehouse.

[6] The Icelandic Fisheries Commission was created in 1934 to initiate innovation in the industry, and encouraged fishermen to start quick-freezing their catch.

Other experiments involving orange juice, ice cream and vegetables were conducted by the military near the end of World War II.

Frozen food packaging must maintain its integrity throughout filling, sealing, freezing, storage, transportation, thawing, and often cooking.

Active packaging can extend shelf-life, maintain product safety, and help preserve the food over a longer period of time.

Several functions of active packaging are being researched: The process of flash freezing itself generally effectively retain the nutrient content of foodstuff with minor losses of vitamins, making them a cost-effective and nutritious substitute from fresh equivalents.

The defrost system in freezers helps the equipment to perform properly, without thick layers of ice developing, thus preventing the evaporator coil from absorbing heat and cooling the cabinet.

[citation needed] The speed of freezing has a direct impact on the size and the number of ice crystals formed within a food product's cells and extracellular space.

[25] Increased levels of freeze concentration, mediated by the formation of large ice crystals, can promote enzymatic browning.