Diced product chilling

CONVENIENCE food purchases are on the rise in South East Asia. Retail sales of packaged food, fast experience evaporative losses. Dicing food and QSR meals across the region are growing on the back of faster paced lifestyles and improved disposable incomes. This means more pre-prepared foods are being introduced into the market and that demand for pre-cut for ready-to-cook mean big opportunities for processors.

When processing hot,cooked food products,however,manufacturers often experience evaporative losses.Dicing product immediately after cooking can result in a yield loss in excess of 10%. The ColdFront diced product chilling system from Praxair Inc.resulting in increased yield and improved product quality.

The complete system includes a crygen supply and storage system, a ColdFront pre-chilling system,and ColdFront ultra preformance flighted chilling system .It is designed for integration with exising equipment to rapadly chill product prior to dicing or slicing.Among the benefits gained over traditional chilling methods are:

? Improved yields owing to better moisture retention and fewer fines material produced during the cutting step

? Improved quality and appearance

? Rapid product temperature reduction over a small footprint

? Enhanced food safety via lower product temperature in dicer, and reduced condensation in the processing area

? Efficient cryogen consumption

Additional benefits of the diced product chilling system include minimal downtime requirements for installation, a small system footprint and a low capital investment as compared to traditional chilling methods. The low capital investment coupled with the improved yield performance results in a very quick payback period for the processor.

In addition, the system can also be utilised to pre-chill other hot, steaming products, such as hot wings or pulled pork, prior to a mechanical freezer resulting in improved efficiency of the freezer, reduced defrost time and reduced rework associated with soft product.