Air Products Will Showcase Its Freshline® Solutions at International Boston Seafood Show

03 Mar 2012

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Seafood processors looking for ways to improve productivity, increase product yield and lower costs while producing high-quality products can turn to Air Products' Freshline® solutions.

Seafood processors looking for ways to improve productivity, increase product yield and lower costs while producing high-quality products can turn to Air Products' Freshline® solutions. The company will be highlighting its range of technology and equipment solutions for freezing, chilling, coating, mixing and more at the International Boston Seafood Show from March 11-13 in Boston, Mass.

Air Products' portfolio of Freshline solutions includes cryogenic food processing equipment that uses liquid nitrogen (LIN) to rapidly chill, cool or freeze a high-quality product. Accounting for more than three-quarters of the earth's atmosphere, nitrogen is plentiful, making it a reliable alternative to carbon dioxide, which experiences regular, seasonal supply shortages. Air Products offers nitrogen in a variety of supply modes that can match the volume requirements of any size operation.

Among the offerings that Air Products will spotlight at this year's Boston Seafood Show are cryogenic freezers that use the ultra-fast freezing power of LIN to help seafood processors improve yield and enhance product quality. One example, the Freshline® DM tunnel freezer, is a highly flexible option that allows manufacturers to process both IQF (individually quick frozen) and flat or trayed products in a single machine.

The company also will highlight its new Freshline® QS tunnel freezer, which is an economical and easy-to-operate option for food processors who want to convert to continuous freezing, alleviate a bottleneck in their operation, or grow and diversify their existing product line. The QS freezer is ideal for smaller volume food processors and start-ups who want to quickly begin freezing a high-quality product with minimal upfront cost.

In addition to traditional cryogenic freezers, Air Products will feature its novel Freshline® LIN-IS, which is a specially designed LIN injection solution that can be retrofitted to new or existing mixers, grinders and blenders for fast, consistent and repeatable cooling. LIN-IS can be used to manage the temperature of minced or chopped proteins through controlled injection of LIN into the product during mixing, which can reduce the difficulty of subsequent forming caused by machine-generated heat.

Air Products will have food specialists on-hand at Booth #1074 to explain the benefits of using cryogenics for seafood processing, help identify ways to get more value out of existing equipment and processes, and discuss Air Products' full range of Freshline solutions for the seafood industry.

In addition, the company will perform live demonstrations to illustrate the rapid freezing ability of LIN. Due to the extremely cold temperature of LIN (-196 degrees C), food can be frozen within minutes instead of the hours traditionally required with other systems. A quick freeze results in the formation of smaller ice crystals, which causes less damage to a product's cellular structure. This enables food products to maintain moisture, which not only improves texture, color and flavor, but also translates into smaller weight losses from dehydration and higher yields. The LIN demonstrations will conclude with making "LIN cream"—Air Products' unique ice cream treat made with liquid nitrogen—for all booth visitors to enjoy.

Air Products has been providing the food industry with solutions for freezing, chilling, coating, mixing, forming, packaging and wastewater treatment for more than 40 years. With state-of-the-art, fully-equipped food laboratories in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Air Products can test a customer's product to determine the feasibility of using the company's Freshline solutions for their specific process.

Source: Air Products