Using flake, plate or tube ice from a traditional flake ice maker has been an industry standard for cooling and storing seafood products for decades. In this cooling method, ice is typically shoveled on top, bottom and between layers of product for improved surface contact in the attempt to provide an acceptable amount of cooling compared to a conventional ice chiller system.
5 Reasons Why Full Coverage Matters!
This icing process is not only time consuming and labor intensive, but it does not efficiently and uniformly cool the products! This is because the cooling rate is directly proportional to the surface contact area of the ice, meaning that fully covering the seafood directly affects the speed at which heat is removed.
Unlike a regular ice production machine, Deepchill®, with its small spherical crystals, completely wraps around the product, fully covering it and leaving no air or heat pockets. The icing process with Deepchill® is not only effortless and efficient, but also, leads to several advantages. This sets us apart from conventional ice manufacturing equipment, which often struggles to achieve the same results.
Read on to see how Deepchill®’s full coverage of the product can make a significant difference in product quality and operational efficiency.
- Rapid Cooling: Deepchill® cools seafood at least three times faster than conventional ice or food processing chillers because it completely covers the product, eliminating air pockets that can cause slower cooling in conventional icing. While these heat pockets in conventional icing cause slower cooling.
- Uniform Cooling: Because Deepchill crystals cover the entire surface of each individual product, including all the nooks and crannies, the cooling is homogeneous. In contrast, scattered coverage in conventional icing cannot achieve uniform cooling, potentially resulting in a downgrade in quality.
- Long Lasting Cooling: Air pockets, which cause free flow of air between ice and product layers, result in faster ice melting. As Deepchill® crystals eliminate these air pockets, they won’t melt prematurely, ensuring that fish are surrounded by long-lasting cooling.
- Mitigate Drip Loss: When products are layered with ice, their surface is exposed to air pockets, leading to significant drip loss and contributing to value losses.
- Increases Shelf Life: Deepchill® maintains a consistent sub-zero internal temperature, resulting in a longer shelf life for seafood. Its technology has also shown benefits in produce cooling, where freshness and longevity are equally critical. In contrast, conventional ice’s inefficient cooling leads to a decrease in product shelf life.
In conclusion, Deepchill® fully covers your seafood, ensuring it gets colder faster and stays fresher for longer. This not only results in premium quality products but also higher value products, allowing seafood producers to maximize their operation’s efficiency, far beyond what standard industrial cooling units can achieve.
Contact us at [email protected] to learn how you can experience the difference in freshness and value for yourself.