IQF stands for “Individually Quickly Frozen” as each individual piece of food is frozen fast and individually. It is a well-known and efficient technology used for quickly freezing products such as vegetables, berries, seafood, meat, dairy, and pasta. This is the most common method of freezing individual pieces of small food items in order to achieve a high quality, natural looking IQF product—even after defrosting.

The method of IQF freezing involves sending the individual food pieces on a bedplate into a tunnel freezer that will freeze the food items very fast. Since the individual food items are separate when they go in, they stay separate even after they have been frozen. IQF food processors prefer this method of freezing as they get a premium, loose product that is easier to work with instead of a large, frozen lump of product.

For example, if we were to use an IQF freezer gf-machine to freeze a batch of berries, the berries would not be clumped and frozen together. Instead, each individual berry would be separate within the batch. This makes it much easier to individually freeze and store products like peaches, berries, peas, fish, shrimp and poultry.

Advancement both in how the products are frozen as well as the speed at which a product can be completely frozen are reaching new heights in the technological sense.

Frozen storage methods have also advanced over the years, but one of the biggest focuses is the speed at which products are being frozen. That is where IQF technology came into play in the frozen food market. IQF freezing allows business owners to individually freeze a large portion of the products at the same time. This method of freezing revolutionized the market as a whole.

How does IQF Work:

The process of IQF relies on freezing the product extremely quickly. Fast enough freezing causes much smaller ice crystals to develop within the product. Ice Crystals that develop with slower methods of freezing are bigger and these crystals damage the cells and tissues of the product.

This is the concept behind the process of IQF.

Food and produce that is frozen through slower means of freezing tend to be dry and damaged when they are defrosted. The formation of larger ice crystals damage the cell walls and reduce the quality of the food. IQF freezing however does not allow the process of bigger ice crystal formation to take place.

The process of ice crystallization takes place between 30 to 25º F or -1 to -4º C. IQF Freezers freeze content extremely fast, bypassing this crucial zone as quickly as possible. This ensures that the food manages to freeze while barely having the chance to develop ice crystals within itself, thereby maintaining product quality.

By quickly freezing the product, the cells within the food are undamaged and preserved so that a higher quality result is acquired every time.

Our very own 3D Freezer Line comes with IQF Freezing Capabilities. With the best in Japanese Freezing Technology our 3D Freezers come packed with a myriad of features guaranteed to give you the edge you need in your business.

If you are interested in IQF Freezing technology and want to know more about how you can implement our freezers into your business please contact us by click https://www.gf-machine.com/solution/frozen-solution/