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Nutritional and Toxicological Aspects of the Chemical Changes of Food Components and Nutrients During Freezing

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Handbook of Food Chemistry

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Abstract

Freezing is one of the easiest, quickest, most versatile, trustworthy, and convenient methods of preserving foods. Proper methods of pre-freezing treatment, freezing process, keeping in frozen state, and thawing guarantee minimal quality and nutrient losses and formation of toxic compounds during this cycle. In this chapter principles and methods of freeze/thaw process are discussed in connection with nutritional and toxicological aspects of freezing of foods of both plant (fruits and vegetables) and animal (meat and milk) origin. To retain better the texture, flavor, and most of the nutrients, fast freezing of the food raw material is usually recommended. To guarantee the possibly minimal formation of toxic compounds as well as minimize microbial growth, temperatures below −18 °C (0 °F) are advised for long-term frozen storage of food items. Dairy products are seldom stored in frozen state.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Department of Food Hygiene, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi Str. 56/3, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Tõnu Püssa

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  1. Tõnu Püssa
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Correspondence to Tõnu Püssa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Food and Nutritional Sciences Program,School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China

    Peter Chi Keung Cheung

  2. Dairy Chemistry Department, Sheth M.C. College of Dairy Science, Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Bhavbhuti M. Mehta

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Püssa, T. (2015). Nutritional and Toxicological Aspects of the Chemical Changes of Food Components and Nutrients During Freezing. In: Cheung, P., Mehta, B. (eds) Handbook of Food Chemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36605-5_2

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