By JBT
Do you remember when frozen fruit and vegetables came as one big block? You had to either use the entire block or use a sawblade or something similar to be able to portion it. If you do remember, you were probably born before the invention of Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) and the introduction of the first IQF freezer, the Frigoscandia FLoFREEZE® IQF Freezer. One of the most important milestones in frozen food convenience and product quality. For the producer, more yield, flexibility, and a higher overall quality.
To the consumer: the flexibility to buy one strawberry or one pea at a time. Something we all take for granted today.
Needless to say, we are very proud of this invention that was the kick-off of the freezer business that started as Frigoscandia and now is a JBT brand of world class freezing technology. Since the 1960s, when we first invented the individual quick-freezing process, we have continuously enhanced the functionality of our IQF freezers with the aim of making it possible for you to apply true fluidization to a wider range of products with longer uptime and greater throughput.
True fluidization gives you premium IQF results and, thus, the best return on your investment. But it is not a one-size-fits-all process.
With nearly six decades of IQF experience, we have identified the factors that give the best results for each food product. We continuously improve our technology to successfully achieve those results. At the same time, we design our freezers to give you continuous performance, operating economy, and low energy consumption when you need it most. Thanks to the flexible design, we can quickly and effectively configure each performance factor to precisely match the throughput requirements of your food product and process.
Consumers appreciate the convenience and appetizing qualities of IQF products. There is no need to chop peas out of an icy block when you can pour out exactly what you want for dinner. Products like peas and corn have long been seen as the typical IQF products. With the development of the FLoFREEZE® and extending its capacity and flexibility, we have taken IQF technology even further, creating a whole new definition of IQF and giving perfect results on an incredible wide range of products, whether they are wet, sticky, bulky, or fragile.
The secret to successful IQF processing is the carefully controlled freezing sequence. It protects product quality and maximizes yield while ensuring true IQF results and long production runs.
JBT’s patented true fluidization technology is the best way to achieve premium prices for your IQF food products.
JBT’s Frigoscandia FLoFREEZE®: how fast freezing boosts yield and quality.
When it comes to freezing fruits, vegetables, or even fish, pasta, and rice, the problem of products sticking together into a homogenous mass can be all too common. But did you know that Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) technology from JBT’s Frigoscandia FLoFREEZE® can overcome these pitfalls and deliver improved product quality and yield?
One of the first advantages you have with the FLoFREEZE® is its flexibility: you can quick-freeze a huge range of products with the same machine. For example, you can run small fish one day, pasta the next, rice the third, and strawberries the fourth, and you can do all that with the same FLoFREEZE® system.
Efficiency with gentle handling: the JBT Frigoscandia FLoFREEZE®
At the same time, and thanks to IQF innovations, the quality of the product coming out of the freezer is fantastic, based on all the customer feedback we have received. It is also a very efficient way to freeze products. By freezing fast, water loss is far lower, so you can achieve a very good yield. And thanks to its speed, the footprint of the FLoFREEZE is substantially smaller than that of a standard freezer system, which would need to be far larger to handle similar volumes.
Product quality is maintained thanks to gentle handling, which allows delicate products such as berries, fresh spices, and tropical fruits to maintain their fresh appearance and flavour characteristics.
True fluidization
So how does the FLoFREEZE® work? IQF technology uses an airstream to freeze products one-by-one. This allows for the movement of air around each product to separate them, so they don’t stick together. FLoFREEZE® provides true fluidization using a patented air flow system that separates and freezes the most delicate products while simultaneously fulfilling the industry’s toughest requirements for hygiene, economy, and user-friendly operation.
Products typically run through the FLoFREEZE® are smaller-dimension foods that can fluidize, such as fruits, berries, vegetables, pasta, and shrimp. The products float in the airstream, behaving like liquid, which allows us to individually freeze the surfaces so they won’t stick together.
Optimizing freezing
But how can customers get the most out of this technology? JBT offers a wealth of experience and know-how that can be utilised to support customers in overcoming difficulties and finding the right solution for their specific products. With knowledge based on 60 years’ experience in IQF freezing and food processing, our food processing technologists will help guide and adapt processes according to customers’ production needs.
Effective solutions
Both inside and outside the machine, we have options to separate products depending on shape, dimensions, and temperature. A vibratory shaker feeds the product into the machine, so you get an even flow. Then inside the machine, on the first IQF track, where we carry out crust freezing, customers have the option of running an agitation process, meaning the product is moved back and forth rapidly to separate it.
The FLoFREEZE® allows you to restrict the amount of air at the entrance to pre-cool the product before fluidization begins. Further, we have options to control the air coming through the product bed: instead of a constant flow, we have a pulsator that opens and closes fast to variate the airstream, causing the product to move up and down.
Once it moves onto the second belt, the product is taken down to -18C. Thanks to the process carried out in the first stage, the product can move to this second belt without having risk of sticking together and creating lumps. So, using all these options, we help customers get the most out of their FLoFREEZE® and enable them to benefit fully from the system’s flexibility, speed and undoubted effectiveness.