• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.271-276
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• 2015

Purpose: Quick freezing is widely used in commercial food storage. Well-known freezing techniques such as individual quick freezing require a low-temperature coolant and small cuts for the heat-transfer efficiency. However, the freezing method for bulk food resembles techniques used in the 1970s. In this study, electromagnetic (EM) heating was applied to improve the quick freezing of bulk food. Methods: During freezing, the surface of food can be rapidly cooled by an outside coolant, but the inner parts of the food cool slowly owing to the latent heat from the phase change. EM waves can directly heat the inner parts of food to prevent it from freezing until the outer parts finish their phase change and are cooled rapidly. The center temperature of garlic cloves was probed with optical thermo sensors while liquid nitrogen (LN) was sprayed. Results: When EM heating was applied, the center cooling time of the garlic cloves from freezing until $-10^{\circ}C$ was 48 s, which was approximately half the value of 85 s obtained without EM heating. For the white radish cubes, the center cooling time was also improved, from 288 to 132 s. The samples frozen by LN spray with EM heating had a closer hardness to the unfrozen samples than the samples frozen by LN only. Conclusions: The EM heating during quick freezing functions to maintain the hardness of fresh food by reducing the freezing time from 0 to $-10^{\circ}C$.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.777-783
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• 2014

This study investigated the effect of various freezing and thawing techniques on the quality of beef. Meat samples were frozen using natural convection freezing (NF), individual quick freezing (IQF), or cryogenic freezing (CF) techniques, followed by natural convection thawing (NCT) or running water thawing (RT). The meat was frozen until the core temperature reached $-12^{\circ}C$ and then stored at $-24^{\circ}C$, followed by thawing until the temperature reached $5^{\circ}C$. Quality parameters, such as the pH, water binding properties, CIE color, shear force, and microstructure of the beef were elucidated. Although the freezing and thawing combinations did not cause remarkable changes in the quality parameters, rapid freezing, in the order of CF, IQF, and NF, was found to minimize the quality deterioration. In the case of thawing methods, NCT was better than RT and the meat quality was influence on the thawing temperature rather than the thawing rate. Although the microstructure of the frozen beef exhibited an excessive loss of integrity after the freezing and thawing, it did not cause any remarkable change in the beef quality. Taken together, these results demonstrate that CF and NCT form the best combination for beef processing; however, IQF and NCT may have practical applications in the frozen food industry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.1055-1061
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• 2014

Innovative freezing technology is currently applied to preserve foodstuffs for long-term storage. Generally, the quality of frozen food is closely related to the types of freezing and thawing processes. In this study, we characterized the physicochemical properties of onions depending on freezing rate. When onions were frozen at $-40^{\circ}C$, freezing rates were 0.1, 0.5, and $0.7^{\circ}C/min$ depending on air-blast quick freezer mode. Onions were thawed by microwave irradiation at 400 W. Hardness of onion dramatically decreased after freezing and thawing compared with blanched onion. However, the fastest freezing rate did not affect hardness. Thawing loss of onion decreased with a faster freezing rate. For morphological observation, onion frozen at a faster rate showed a smaller ice-crystal size. Vitamin C content decreased upon blanching or freezing, but there was no significant difference according to freezing rate. Although free sugar content also decreased upon blanching and freezing, its highest content was at $0.7^{\circ}C/min$ freezing. Among organic acids, malic acid content was highest at $0.7^{\circ}C/min$ freezing. Based on this study, it could be suggested that a faster freezing rate is effective to improve frozen food quality in accordance with preventing tissue damage or minimizing destruction of nutrients.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.350-358
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• 2015

Freezing is one of the main processes to extend the shelf life of foods. Before freezing, a thermal treatment is normally required to control the food quality. In this study, shiitake mushrooms were heated with boiling water and with superheated steam. After the thermal treatments, the samples were continuously frozen by an individual quick freezing (IQF) process, and put them into air-containing or vacuum packaging. Samples were stored at -12, -18 and $-24^{\circ}C$ for 24 weeks, and their physicochemical properties were determined. The lightness of the samples treated with boiling water and superheated steam was decreased by 12 and 15%, respectively, than that of the control. The hardness of all the samples rapidly increased after heat treatment. The contents of organic acids in the superheated steam treated samples were higher than those in the boiling water treated samples. Therefore, superheated steam treatment of samples may be a candidate thermal treatment to preserve frozen shiitake mushrooms.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.10
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• pp.1492-1503
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• 2015

This study evaluated the combination effect of various freezing and thawing techniques on the quality and nutritional aspects of onions. Onions were frozen by natural air convection freezing (NCF), air blast freezing (ABF), and liquid nitrogen freezing (LNF). Onions were frozen for 76 min by NCF, 9 min by ABF, and 9 min by LNF. The freezing treatment was stopped when the core temperature reached $-12^{\circ}C$ for NCF and ABF, and $-120^{\circ}C$ for LNF. Frozen samples were thawed through natural air convection thawing, running water thawing, sonication thawing (ST), or microwave thawing. The quality and nutritional aspects of frozen-thawed onions were evaluated by measuring thawing loss, pH, texture, water content, color, and SEM image. ST was found to cause the least loss in onion sample among the tested thawing methods, whereas the freezing methods did not cause any significant loss. In our experiment, thawing is found to be a more critical technique when compared to that of freezing. There were no clear quantifications or trends of pH and water content among different freezing and thawing techniques. The highest total color difference (${\Delta}E$) was observed in the NCF sample. For morphological observation, ABF gave the smallest ice crystal size, as well as minimum cell collapse. Loss of vitamin C, free sugar, and organic acid content was lower in the ABF and ST sample, when compared to other trials. In our study, we found that combination of ABF and ST could preserve the quality and nutritional aspects of frozen-thawed onions better than other methods.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2004

The consumption of poultry meat (chicken and turkey) grew the most during the past few decades due to several contributing factors such as low price, product research and development, favorable meat characteristics, responsive to consumer needs, vertical integration and industry consolidation, new processing equipments and technology, and aggressive marketing. The major processing technologies developed and used in chicken processing include forming/restructuring, tumbling, curing, smoking, massaging, injection, marination, emulsifying, breading, battering, shredding, dicing, and individual quick freezing. These processing technologies were applied to various parts of chicken including whole carcass. Product developments using breast, thigh, and mechanically separated chicken meat greatly increased the utilization of poultry meat. Chicken breast became the symbol of healthy food, which made chicken meat as the most frequent menu items in restaurants. However, the use of and product development for dark meat, which includes thigh, drum, and chicken wings were rather limited due to comparatively high fat content in dark meat. Majority of chicken are currently sold as further processed ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat forms. Major quality issues in chicken meat include pink color problems in uncured cooked breast, lipid oxidation and off-flavor, tenderness PSE breast, and food safety. Research and development to ensure the safety and quality of raw and cooked chicken meat using new processing technologies will be the major issues in the future as they are now. Especially, the application of irradiation in raw and cooked chicken meat products will be increased dramatically within next 5 years. The market share of ready-to-eat cooked meat products will be increased. More portion controlled finished products, dark meat products, and organic and ethnic products with various packaging approaches will also be introduced.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.67-88
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• 2003

The consumption of poultry meat (chicken and turkey) grew the most during the past few decades due to several contributing factors such as low price. product research and development. favorable meat characteristics, responsive to consumer needs, vertical integration and industry consolidation, new processing equipments and technology, and aggressive marketing. The major processing technologies developed and used in chicken processing include forming/restructuring, tumbling, curing, smoking, massaging, injection, marination, emulsifying, breading, battering, shredding, dicing, and individual quick freezing. These processing technologies were applied to various parts of chicken including whole carcass. Product developments using breast, thigh, and mechanically separated chicken meat greatly increased the utilization of poultry meat. Chicken breast became the symbol of healthy food, which made chicken meat as the most frequent menu items in restaurants. However, the use of and product development for dark meat, which includes thigh, drum, and chicken wings were rather limited due to comparatively high fat content in dark meat. Majority of chicken are currently sold as further processed ready-to-cook or ready-to-eat forms. Major quality issues in chicken meat include pink color problems in uncured cooked breast, lipid oxidation and off-flavor, tenderness PSE breast, and food safety. Research and development to ensure the safety and quality of raw and cooked chicken meat using new processing technologies will be the major issues in the future as they are now. Especially, the application of irradiation in raw and cooked chicken meat products will be increased dramatically within next 5 years. The market share of ready-to-eat cooked meat products will be increased. More portion controlled finished products, dark meat products, and organic and ethnic products with various packaging approaches will also be introduced.