The Danish Meat Research Institute (DMRI).wanted to quantify the relationship between the freezing time, and product quality. (To quantify the effects of blast cell versus automated freezers)
The results of their research was highlighted in the following papers.
“Impact of freezing rates on quality of loins for further processing” 4/41995, and
“Effect of freezing time on quality of thawed loins” 19/4/2001
In summary the reports show that:
The thawing loss is significantly larger at a freezing rate of 36 hours compared to a freezing rate of 12 and 24 hours. This experiment did not find significant differences in the thawing losses at 12 or 24 hours respectively”
There is an increased yield loss of 1.5% when freezing in 36 as opposed to 24hours. We would assume that the yield losses will be even greater with a freezing time of 40+hours.
The products color also shows better appearance with quicker the freezing times