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THE DEEP CHILL by Tom Wray
Ultra-low freezing to -60 deg C may be a relatively niche market at present. However, Pro Food Solutions, who claim to be the only European firm to offer coldstorage and defrosting facilities at this temperature, believes that demand is rapidly increasing for this 'new and exciting' service.
'Most of the fresh tuna you currently see on the supermarket shelves is air freighted in,' explains director David Anderson. 'But the -60 deg C product is frozen at sea and comes by container ship, refrigerated at the same temperature and then defrosted. It is becoming more and more popular as it reduces both the air miles and the carbon footprint.'
He continues: 'The testing we've done with our customers has shown that you are also gaining shelflife with the deep frozen product. We hold the product at the same -60 deg C temperature until the customer requires us to defrost it. Furthermore, the very controlled way in which we defrost the product ensures that the natural red pigmentation of the tuna flesh is maintained much longer. The product driploss with this method of defrosting is minimal.'
As such, Anderson believes the only way is up for the -60 deg C tuna market. He is receiving orders from customers around the world wishing to capitalise on this unique coldstore. 'The tuna, which comes in different shapes and sizes and different forms of packaging, is coming from absolutely all over. I am storing tuna product from Ecuador, we've handled a container of Spanish product and we've just had two containers landed, one from Korea and one from China.'
While yellowfin tuna is the main seafood product that has been stored at -60 deg C and thawed for customers to date, Pro Food has also handled other species of tuna as well as swordfish. And while the storage and thawing of tuna products accounts for the bulk of the company's business, it is equally capable of blast freezing and storing UK-produced fresh fish and shellfish at -60 deg C before distribution, according to Anderson. 'We're always open to new ideas,' he says. 'We've done a lot of testing and are more than happy to continue doing trials for different people on different products.'
Danish company Norfrig, who supplied the freezing machinery for the Pro Food Solutions operation, also believes super freezing is expanding rapidly. 'The move to lower temperatures is growing in Europe,' says managing director Mogens Pedersen. 'We are seeing more and more demand for blast freezing and storage at -60 deg C, not only for tuna but also for other high value fish and other products.'
Norfrig specialises in containerised equipment designed for blast freezing cargo from -20 to -60 deg C. The company mostly produces blast freeze equipment in 40ft containers, but it has units capable of freezing down to -60 deg C with capacities running from 250 kg to six tonnes per 24 hours.
Norfrig blast freezers - such as the CBU 30 - are equipped with the company's MPC3 (microprocessor controller/data logger), temperature display and a keypad operating panel. The unit temperature sensors give all necessary unit data information for fast troubleshooting and easy diagnosis. The units in this product range are designed primarily for the transportation sector, but are said to function equally well as storage room for deep frozen goods, as in the case of UK company Pro Food Solutions.
Accompanying the freezer in the Pro Food setup is the company's quick thaw unit, which was developed in co-operation with Morep and is claimed to surpass all conventional tempering and thawing systems. The unit thaws goods effectively and accurately with a minimum of manual operation, and can be used in both existing insulated rooms as well as insulated containers, says the company. It is described as a specially designed wind tunnel using high speed turbine fans to move warm air over the surface of materials in a controlled pattern and at velocities not possible in a conventional cooler. According to Pro Food's Anderson, his company's quick thaw units will thaw a full container of -60 deg C tuna in about 14 hours.
Published by Seafood Processor , Oct 2008 (p.21 &23.) Written by Tom Wray.