Recent enhancements in refrigeration technologies take into consideration requirements such as energy savings, ease of access and use, high performance and cost-savings, among some of the most prominent demands from food processors. This is especially applicable to large-scale tunnel freezers, including those designed for French fries.
By Dan Orehov
One of the major directions for technology development assisting the freezing process of vegetables, particularly potato products, is a complete alignment of freezers and refrigeration systems with the characteristics and state of the end product.
GEA is one of the companies that has already undertaken R&D efforts in its technology for French fries, so that it anticipates market demand and stays several steps ahead of current and upcoming developments.
The company’s core and most recognized product for French fries is the A-series IQF tunnel freezer range, which includes the entire cooling/refrigerating/freezing process in one tunnel. They are especially designed with potato freezing in mind and are applicable to various end products, from French fries to potato wedges, diced potato and dollar chips. With large capacities which allow the freezing of up to 25 tons of produce per hour, this range of tunnels benefits by multiple temperature zones which are adapt to several processes (pre-cooling, refrigerating, freezing) and are designed in such a way that they adhere to current hygienic standards. Other potato products such as hash browns patties or mashed potatoes in bags or trays are cooled or frozen on many sites, with the company’s spiral freezers.
As the USDA – Foreign Agricultural Services & Business Monitor International 2015 shows, the estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of global refrigerated food exports is expected to reach 7.4% between 2014 and 2018, with vegetables being one of the most widely sold commodities worldwide. Taking into account that since the beginning of the decade, the annual production of frozen food has exceeded 50m tons, continuous advancement in freezing technologies allows for a more rapid development of energy-efficient equipment, which meets the increasing demand for this category of foodstuffs.
For the German-based global system provider of freezing technology, the first half of the year saw a dynamic evolution in several markets worldwide, including North America, Eastern Europe and Asia, with a slight slowdown in Western Europe. In fact, the only exception on the latter was the French fries market, which recorded an increase of new investments in large capacity lines.
