Traditionally, using cold air blasts ( 40°F) blocks of shrimp are frozen in an insulated container (air-blast/spiral freezer), or in a contact plate freezer. Shrimp can also be individually quick frozen (IQF) by immersing or spraying them with liquid
nitrogen/carbon dioxide (also called cryogenic freezing).
Cryogenic freezing systems utilize very large temperature differentials and are
extremely effective but have high operating costs. Alternatively, (air) blast freezers have low operating costs, but produce a significantly lower quality product and cause unnecessary weight loss.