REFRIGERATION

Chapter 7: Applications of
Refrigeration

Presented by
Keshav Kumar Acharya
Teaching Assistant
TU, IOE
Purwanchal Campus
 Food Preservation
• The food, like air and water, is necessary for the human being
to live
• All the foods used by human being may be obtained from the
plant of animal kingdom.
• All the foods are not produced during the whole year.
• Different foods are produced at different places and in a
particular season
• Since, some of the foods are required all round the year in
various parts of the country, therefore it is very much essential
to preserve them during transportation and subsequent
storage until they are finally consumed.
• The food preservation may be defined as the state in which
the food may be retained over a period of time without being
contaminated by pathogenic organisms or chemical and
without losing its color, texture, flavor and nutrition value
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
• All types of foods contain proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and
minerals
• The proteins and minerals like iron, calcium and phosphorus help for
tissue building and growth of the body
• The carbohydrates and fats provide energy to the body.
• The vitamins and minerals are essential to safeguard the body against
diseases.
• The destruction of any one of the above mentioned components causes
the spoilage of food.
• The spoilage period depends upon the type of food.
• The perishable foods like meat, dish, milk and many fruits and vegetables
begin to deteriorate immediately unless properly preserved.
• The semi – perishable foods like eggs, onions and potatoes can be kept
for several weeks in a cold dry place.
• The non – perishable foods like cereals, pulses and nuts can be stored for
long periods of time.
• The spoilage of food comes in the form of bad odor, uncommon color, bad
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Spoilage Due to Physical Changes
• One of the causes of the spoilage of unpackaged fresh foods,
such as meat, poultry, fish, fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs,
etc. is the loss of moisture from the surface of the product by
evaporation into the surrounding air. This process is known as
desiccation or dehydration
• In fruits and vegetables, desiccation is accompanied by a
considerable loss in both weight and vitamin content.
• The loss of weight also affects the taste of food. In meat,
cheese, etc., desiccation causes discoloration, shrinkage and
heavy trim losses.
• Eggs lose moisture through the porous shell, with a resulting
loss of weight and general downgrading of the eggs.
• The spoilage of food, particularly fruits and vegetables, due to
impact, bruising and squeezing is very common in packing.
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Spoilage Due to Chemical Changes
• The spoilage of food is caused by a series of complex
chemical changes in the food.
• These chemical changes are brought about by both internal
and external spoiling agents.
• The former are the natural enzymes, whereas the latter are
the micro – organisms.
Enzymes
• The enzymes are inherent in all organic substances such as
fruits, vegetables and animals.
• They are organic catalyst produced by cells.
• The life of every cell of plants and animal tissue depends
upon the chemical reactions activated by these organic
catalyst.
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Enzymes
• Chemically, enzymes are proteins in nature and hence may
be denatured by heat.
• There are various typed of enzymes and specific enzymes act
on some specific foods starting the chemical action which is
responsible for the spoilage food.
• The moisture (water) is necessary for the proper activity of the
enzymes.
• The optimum temperature at which most enzymes act rapidly
is about 370 C, but they are destroyed by heating the foods or
their activity can be reduced by freezing the foods.
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Enzymes
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Micro - Organisms
• They are undetectable living organisms present in the
surroundings
• They grow in and on the surface of the food.
• The various micro – organisms responsible for the spoilage of
food are as follows:
i. Bacteria
ii. Yeast
iii. Moulds (Fungus)
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Micro - Organisms
i. Bacteria
• They are single – celled organisms found in soil, water, dust
and air
• Many bacteria are useful in preserving the food and their
presence is necessary in some specific foods such as those
which ferment apple juice to produce cider.
• Some bacterial cause the spoilage of foods.
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Micro - Organisms
i. Bacteria
• The psychrophilic bacterial are those organisms which play an
important part in the spoilage of food in the refrigerator and
cold storages
• The thermophilic bacterial are those organisms which are
capable of withstanding high temperature. The food and
canning industry and milk processing plants are generally
affected by them.
• Since, bacterial may be aerobic or anaerobic, they are likely
to flourish anywhere and everywhere
• Some of them may cause spoilage of foods while others may
cause food poisoning and diseases borne through food.
• They may be destroyed by sunlight, ultra – violet rays,
extreme heat and by the use of certain chemical substances.
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Micro - Organisms
ii. Yeast
• It is another micro – organism which is responsible for food
spoilage.
• They require water and a source of energy (usually sugar) for
their growth.
• The growth is most rapid at temperature between 25 0 C and
300 C.
• The yeast cells which are always present in the atmosphere
may contaminate food and cause its spoilage.
• They produce pigments and undesirable chemical products
during their metabolism.
• The yeast may cause spoilage of fruit juices, syrups,
molasses, honey, jellies and other foods, converting their
sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Micro - Organisms
ii. Yeast
• All types of yeast will be destroyed when subjected to
temperature of 1000 C and their activity will be stopped under
low temperature, but they remain in food for a considerable
long time as their cells are hard.
iii. Moulds (Fungus)
• The moulds are multi – cellular, filamentous fungi that contains
sporangium
• The spores in the sporangium spread through the air and start
new mould plants.
• When these spores find a favorable environment, they
germinate and produce a fluffy growth.
• Most of the moulds grow between 250 C and 300 C in warm
damp places. Some moulds can grow even at refrigerator
temperature
 Factors Contributing to Food
Spoilage
Micro - Organisms
iii. Moulds (Fungus)
• The growth of mould is rapid on acidic foods such as lemon
and on foods having high sugar content such as jams and
jellies.
iv. Other Causes of Food Spoilage
 Desiccation
 Absorber of Odors
 Bruising
 Methods of Food Preservation
• All the methods of food preservation must provide such an
environment in and around the preserved food so that it
produces one or more unfavorable conditions to the continued
activity of the spoilage agents.
• When the product is to be preserved for a long time, the
unfavorable conditions must be of sufficient severity to
eliminate the spoilage agents entirely or at least make them
ineffective.
 Methods of Food Preservation
Heat Processing
• All types of spoilage agents are destroyed when subjected to
high temperatures over a period of time.
• The temperature of the product is raised to a level fatal to all
spoilage agents and is maintained at this level until they are
all destroyed.
• The product is then sealed in sterilized, air tight containers.
• A product so processed will remain in a preserved state for a
long time.
 Methods of Food Preservation
Dehydration
• The process of removing the moisture from the product is
called dehydration.
• It is one of the oldest methods of preserving foods and still it
is widely used.
• Since, both enzymes and micro – organisms require moisture
for their growth, therefore, it is necessary to stop completely
their growth by dehydrating the foods.
• A variety of dehydrated products are available in the market
• They include dried milk, dehydrated soups, instant coffee, pre
– cooked peas and cereals.
• A very common method used for dehydration is sun – drying
 Methods of Food Preservation
Chemical Preservation
• This method may be employ high concentrations of salts,
sugar and acids.
• Salt as a preservative is used for preserving vegetables and
fruits
• The presence of high concentration of salt prevents the water
form being available for bacterial growth. This is because the
concentration of salt in the water is higher than that in the
bacterial cells. Thus, the water cannot be absorbed by the
cellular membrane of the bacteria.
• Sugar acts as preservative because the high concentration of
sugar solution withdraws water from the micro – organisms,
thereby preventing their growth.
• The moulds will, however, grow on the surfaces of jams,
jellies, if proper sterility is not maintained.
 Methods of Food Preservation
Chemical Preservation
• When the medium in which food is preserved is strongly
acidic, then most of the micro – organisms cannot survive.
• The use of vinegar (acetic acid) and lemon juice (citric acid) is
common in home methods of pickling.
• The benzonic acid as a preservative is used up to
concentration of 0.1% for all colored fruits and vegetables.
Oils and Spices
• The oils and spices along with salt and sugar provide a
medium that resists the activity of the micro – organisms in
food.
• Moreover, they improve the flavor of the food being preserved
• When oil is used in pickling, the top layer of oil prevents the
micro – organisms in the air form coming into contact with the
food.
 Methods of Food Preservation
Canning
• The canning is the preservation of food in sealed containers,
usually after the application of heat, through steam under
pressure.
• During this process, some of the micro organisms are
destroyed and the rest are also rendered inactive.
• The enzymes are also inactivated.
• The containers are then sealed to prevent recontamination of
foods.
• During aseptic canning, high temperature is applied for a very
short time.
• The product is first sterilized at 135 0 C to 1720 C in a few
seconds, then cooked and filled in sterilized containers.
• This method is used for fluid products such as fruit juices,
syrups and sauces.
 Methods of Food Preservation
Pasteurization
• This method is generally used on large scale to protect milk
against bacterial infection.
• The milk used for the preparation of milk products like cheese,
butter and ice cream is pasteurized.
• The pasteurization may be brought about by the holding
process or high temperature short time method.
• In holding process, the milk is heated to at least 62 0 C and
kept at that temperature for at least 30 minutes.
• In the high temperature short time method, the milk is heated
to 700 C and kept at that temperature for at least 15 seconds.
 Methods of Food Freezing
• This method is used for preserving the fresh foods for
considerably longer period providing proper temperature and
humidity conditions in the stored place.
• Maintaining considerably low temperature generally retard the
activity of the spoilage agents.
• The temperature required to be provided depends upon the
types of food and period of preservation
• The temperatures provided for preservation may be above
freezing or below freezing temperatures depending upon the
period of preservation.
• For longer periods, temperatures below freezing are always
used and the range of freezing temperature for different foods
lies between -150 C and -250 C.
 Methods of Food Freezing
• The activity of the spoilage agents is more rapid in the liquid
content of food.
• The freezing preservation method keeps this liquid content of
food into minute ice crystals.
• By doing so, the activity of the micro – organisms and
enzymes is considerably retarded as favorable conditions for
their growth are removed.
Slow or Sharp Freezing
• This freezing method provides the freezing temperature of –
150 C to -300 C to the stored food.
• The air in the stored room will circulate just by natural
convection and therefore the time required for freezing the
food is considerably large, may be many hours or even days.
 Methods of Food Freezing
Quick – Freezing
• This freezing is brought about by forced circulation of cold air
necessary for freezing the foods in storage.
• The difference between quick and slow – freezing is only in
the size of crystals formed within the foods during freezing.
Advantages of Quick – Freezing over Slow – Freezing
• The cellulose expansion is greatly reduced because of rapid
rate of crystal formation. This prevents the rupture of
membranes and loss of valuable nutritious fluids.
• There is no chance for the separation of water in the form of
pure ice and diffusion salt from the food surface cannot take
place
• The decomposition during freezing is not possible
 Methods of Food Freezing
Quick – Freezing
• The quick freezing is further subdivided into four groups as
listed below:
 Freezing by Immersion
• In this method, the food products are immersed into low
temperature liquids.
• As the liquids are good conductors of heat and in good
thermal contact with all the products, the heat transfer is rapid
and the product is completely frozen in a very short time.
• The liquid used for freezing the foods should be non – toxic
and should not produce any bad effect on the immersed
foods.
• The liquids used for this purpose are sodium chloride brine,
sugar brine and propylene glycol.
 Methods of Food Freezing
Quick – Freezing
 Freezing by Immersion
• This freezing method produces a thin coating of ice on the
surface of the product resulting in prevention of dehydration of
unpackaged products during the storage period.
• The only disadvantage of this system is the extraction of the
juice from the product by osmosis resulting into contamination
and weakening of the frozen solution.
• This defect, however, can be avoided by freezing the products
in canned or packaged forms.
 Methods of Food Freezing
Quick – Freezing
 Indirect Contact Freezing
• In this method, the food products are freezed by the direct
contact with metal surface cooled by any of the refrigerants
such as ammonia, R12, R22, or cold brine.
• For this purpose, various types of plate freezers consisting of
metal plates with food products placed on them and a
refrigerant circulating through them, are used.
• Since, the food products preserved in plate freezers do not
come in direct contact with the cooling medium, therefore, the
foods maintain their taste and color.
• The only disadvantage of this method is that the ice crystals
formed on the surface of the food product are of little bigger
size than immersion freezing method.
 Methods of Food Freezing
Quick – Freezing
 Air Blast Freezing
• In this method, the food products are freezed by the contact with
cold air.
• It is widely used because it provides excellent quality of the food
among all other types.
• In this method, a very low temperature air is circulated with a
very high velocity around the various parts of the product kept in
insulated tunnel type storage.
• The temperatures of – 20 0 C to – 400 C are commonly used for
this method of freezing.
• The velocity of air varies from 30 m/min to 120 m/min according
to the type of food to be freezed.
• It may be noted that dehydration of the product may occur in
freezing unpacked whole or whole or dressed fish in blast
freezer unless the velocity of air is kept high and period of
exposer of air is controlled.
 Food Preservation by Refrigeration
• The refrigeration is the only means of preserving food in its
original freshness.
• When the food is to be preserved by refrigeration, the
refrigerating process must begin very soon after harvesting or
killing of animal and must be continuous until the food is finally
consumed.
• The preservation of perishable foods by refrigeration involves
the use of low temperature as a means of eliminating or
retarding the activity of spoilage agent.
• The low temperature are not as effective as high temperature in
bringing about the destruction of spoilage agents.
• The storage of perishable foods at low temperatures provides a
practical means of preserving perishable foods in their original
fresh state for longer periods of time.
• The application of refrigeration for preserving foods is common
in domestic refrigeration, commercial refrigeration and cold
storages.