Do you know about frozen food?

According to relevant information, quick-frozen food is one of the
fastest growing foods in the world today.
In developed countries, quick-frozen food has replaced the monopoly position of canned food with the advantages of high hygiene and quality, reasonable nutrition, wide variety, convenient consumption and low cost, and has leapt to the first
place in processed food.

What is flash freezing?

According to SB/T 10379-2012 "Quick-frozen Prepared Food", quick-freezing is a freezing method
in which the pretreated food quickly passes through its maximum ice crystal area in an environment below -30 °C, so that the hot core temperature of the frozen food must reach -18 °C and below.
Note: The hot core temperature refers to the highest temperature point
inside the product (a package or individual food) at the end of freezing.

Quick freezing can make the water in the food pass through the largest ice crystal formation zone in the shortest time, and more than 80% of the ice crystals
with relatively fine particles are formed.
Xiaoice crystal will hardly destroy food cells, food cells are less likely to deform, water and juice in food tissues are not lost, and the purpose of
freshness can be achieved to the greatest extent.
In addition, when the temperature is -18 ° C and below, bacteria and various enzymes are in an inhibitory state, which can extend the shelf life
of food.

Classification of quick-frozen foods

According to SB/T 11073-2013 "Quick-frozen food terminology", quick-frozen food refers to packaged food
that uses quick-freezing method to maintain a temperature of -18 °C or lower by cold chain.
According to different raw materials, it can be divided into: quick-frozen noodle rice products, quick-frozen livestock and poultry meat, quick-frozen aquatic products, quick-frozen fruits, quick-frozen vegetables and quick-frozen prepared foods
.

1.
Quick-frozen noodle rice products

It refers to food made of one or more grains and their products such as wheat, rice, corn, and grains as raw materials, or with fillings/auxiliary materials, processed and quick-frozen
.
According to the processing method, it can be divided into quick-frozen noodle rice raw products (ready-to-eat or non-ready-to-eat quick-frozen food that has not been heated and matured before freezing) and quick-frozen noodle rice cooked products (ready-to-eat or non-ready-to-eat quick-frozen food that is heated and matured before freezing), including quick-frozen dumplings, quick-frozen rice balls, quick-frozen lantern festival, quick-frozen wontons, quick-frozen finger cakes, quick-frozen fritters, quick-frozen buns, quick-frozen flower rolls, quick-frozen steamed buns, quick-frozen pumpkin cakes, quick-frozen eight-treasure rice, etc
.

2.
Quick-frozen livestock and poultry meat

Cut livestock and poultry meat
processed by flash freezing.
Including quick-frozen and cut animal meat, quick-frozen livestock meat by-products and bone products, quick-frozen and cut poultry meat and quick-frozen poultry by-products and bone products.

3.
Quick-frozen aquatic products

Aquatic products are cleaned, sorted, graded, trimmed or not trimmed, cooked or uncooked, and made by quick-freezing, packaging and other processes
.
Including quick-frozen fish, quick-frozen aquatic crustaceans, quick-frozen aquatic molluscs, quick-frozen echinoderms and quick-frozen aquatic chyme products
.

4.
Quick-frozen fruits

Products made of fresh fruits with moderate ripeness as raw materials, through grading, cleaning, peeling or not peeling, pitting or not pitting, splitting or not splitting, blanching or not blanching, cooling, draining or not draining, quick-freezing and other processes
.
We commonly see: quick-frozen strawberries, quick-frozen mangoes, quick-frozen pineapples, etc
.

5.
Quick-frozen vegetables

Products made from fresh and clean vegetables as raw materials through washing, dividing or not splitting, blanching or not blanching, cooling, draining or not draining, quick-freezing and other processes
.
Our common are: quick-frozen spinach, quick-frozen marantou, quick-frozen camelin, quick-frozen celery, quick-frozen cauliflower, quick-frozen bell pepper, quick-frozen garlic, quick-frozen carrot, quick-frozen taro, quick-frozen pumpkin, quick-frozen peas, quick-frozen beans, quick-frozen cowpeas, quick-frozen lotus root, quick-frozen horseshoe, quick-frozen asparagus, quick-frozen sweet corn on the cob, quick-frozen corn kernels, quick-frozen shiitake mushrooms, quick-frozen enoki mushrooms, etc
.

6.
Quick-frozen prepared food

One or more of grains or beans or potatoes and their products, livestock and poultry meat and their products, aquatic products and their products, plant protein and its products, fruits and vegetables and their products, eggs and their egg products, edible fungi and their products, etc.
as raw materials, or at the same time with fillings/auxiliary materials (including food additives), after preparation, processing, molding, etc.
, quick-frozen food
.
Our common ones are: quick-frozen noodle rice products, quick-frozen wrapped noodle products, quick-frozen seasoned aquatic products, quick-frozen minced meat products, quick-frozen dish products, quick-frozen soup products, etc
.

Refrigerated food

According to the definition given in GB/T 24616-2019 "Logistics Packaging, Labeling, Transportation and Storage of Refrigerated and Frozen Food", refrigerated food refers to food stored, transported and sold under conditions below 8°C and above the freezing point
.
This type of food does not need to be frozen, but the temperature of the food needs to be reduced to close to the freezing point, and the storage conditions on the packaging generally say "placed at 2-6 ° C" and so on
.
Refrigerated food is generally sold in the refrigerator of the supermarket, and it needs to be stored in the refrigerator after buying home
.

Can a household refrigerator be used to make quick-frozen food?

Some people think that if you put things in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, they will not freeze.

In fact, the temperature of the freezer compartment of household refrigerators can generally only reach about -20 ° C, and it takes several hours to freeze after putting food in at the earliest, which can only be called slow freezing rather than quick freezing
.
Slow-frozen food because it takes a long time to cool down, the water in the food is easy to form large ice crystals, thereby destroying food cells, resulting in poor taste, it can be seen that household refrigerators
can not be used to make quick-frozen food.

Tips for consuming frozen foods

1.
The storage and sales temperature of quick-frozen food should be controlled at -18 °C or below, and the temperature fluctuation should be controlled within
2 °C.
When purchasing, check whether the temperature of the low-temperature freezer where the quick-frozen food is stored meets the requirements
.

2.
You should buy quick-frozen food with complete packaging within the shelf life, and try not to buy bulk products
.
It also depends on whether there is a large ice ballast on the food, if there is, it indicates that it does not meet the requirements of the whole cold chain, and should be tried not to buy; In addition, if the product is found to be deformed, damaged, soft collapse, discolored, the surface is sticky or even sticky, it is not suitable to buy
.

3.
Quick-frozen food should be eaten and bought, buy as little as possible each time, should be put on the shopping cart before payment, and transported home in the shortest time, put into the refrigerator freezer layer at the first time, and should be separated
from raw and cooked.
(Edited by Li Chuang)