Technology

The preservation of food for storage over extended periods is a classic example of human ingenuity. In the modern world, freezing is perhaps the most popular way to preserve food.

When it comes to veggies, not only does freezing preserve the nutritional value of the food, but the flavor is often enhanced by the process (IE: peas and sweet corn). Frozen food gives consumers the ability to keep their chosen goodies for very long periods.

When we talk about the cutting edge of technology in frozen food applications, there is perhaps no other greater version of the process than IQF.

For those of you who do not know the definition of IQF or “individually quick frozen” here is the meaning to bring you up to speed.

IQF is a food freezing tactic that prevents big ice crystals from forming inside of vegetable cells. With IQF, it should be noted that every single piece of produce (literally every pea, corn kernel, etc) is individually frozen to perfection. With IQF, there are no food particles. The result is a final product that is not frozen solid into a brick of ice.

Now, there are many different ways to freeze vegetables. Some of these include but are not limited to plate freezing, blast cooling, tunnel freezing, fluid-bed freezing, cryogenics, and dehydro-freezing.

As for which method is right for you, well, that depends on the quality you want from your freezing method, depending on factors such as financial limitations and storage dynamics, IQF may or may not be a good choice for your products.

This article will take a look at the applications and uses for IQF and help you to decide if it is, in fact, the right form of food freezing for your food packaging needs.

What is IQF?

When we talk about IQF and its relation to frozen food packaging and storage, we are talking about “Individually Quick Frozen.”

This style of frozen food packaging is incredibly unique due to its ability to individually freeze all elements of a product, with each item separately frozen.

So, if we froze a batch of peas, the peas will not get clumped and stuck together in one massive frozen block of peas. Instead, every single pea will be separated inside the packaging. IQF makes it much easier to freeze and store items such as plumbs, blueberries, corn, salmon, lobster, and pork. It should be noted that the product will “flow” (move through your packaging line) better as it is weighed and packaged.

Technological advances in the ways that products can be frozen are gaining momentum. The speed at which foods can now be frozen has also significantly increased. This results in higher quality products getting to market at a much faster pace than was previously possible.

Storing frozen food has also evolved over time for the manufacturer, who, is ever pressed to produce more, better, faster while still producing top quality for the consumer. However, the main focus of modern freezing technology is focused on the speed that a product can be frozen.

This is where IQF technology owns the market…

IQF technology gives food packagers the ability to blast-freeze a vast selection of their food products in a short amount of time. IQF has genuinely disrupted the food packaging industry as a whole in this respect.

How IQF Works

Individual quick frozen technology rests upon “blast-freezing” food products extremely fast. This ultra-cold, ultra-fast freezing methodology results in significantly tiny ice crystal formations to freeze the product. Water turns into ice crystals around 30 to 25º Fahrenheit or -1 to -4º Celsius. IQF Freezers “blast-freeze” food products extremely fast.

The slower and bigger ice crystal formations common with other forms of frozen food packaging can cause cellular damage to the products, which can affect quality, texture, and flavor.

The intensity of cold, and speed of freezing are the primary benefits of the individually quick frozen process.

Slower forms of freezing almost always lead to dryer and, at times, damaged products when they are eventually set to defrost. This leads to your customers having a poor experience with your product.

nitial quick freezing, on the other hand, prevents damage and protects the products that are frozen with it. IQF ensures that the food being frozen will freeze while producing almost no ice crystals inside of the product itself.

This ultra-fast freezing of the food prevents the cells within the food from becoming damaged. Also, it preserves it, which results in a much higher quality end product.

What Types Of Food Are Frozen With IQF?

Technically speaking, you can freeze any food product with IQF. Still, the most common types of food that are regularly frozen with individually quick frozen technology includes but is not limited to french fries, peas, corn, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, lobster, shrimp, oysters, clams, pork, chicken, beef, bison, and various other types of produce, meats, poultry and foods prone to spoilage without some form of preservation.

How To Start Using IQF

If you are interested in using IQF for your food packaging applications, you will want to reach out to a packaging professional to provide you with the next steps to take regarding sourcing the appropriate machinery and materials.

IQF equipment is highly specialized and not available from many vendors. The required bagging and related materials can be purchased from packaging distributors (like Industrial Packaging) or manufacturers.