Tempering Frozen Food

TEMPERING FROZEN FOOD

In freezing food product, the outside of the product, where most bacteria is found, is the first part to reduce in temperature, and hence severely restrict the duration within which bacteria can multiply.  In thawing, this is not the case.  The outside of the product will be normally be the first to increase in temperature into the danger zone for bacterial growth, and remain there until the inner parts of the product thaw. Transkold offer the capability of tempering frozen food to accelerate the time required to bring frozen food up to the required temperature for further work in the preparation of food.   If this is a service you are interested in, please don’t hesitate to get in contact to work out the exact requirements

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Tempering Frozen Food mean?

Tempering Frozen Food is the process of taking food from frozen to chilled temperature.  If you just leave the pallet in a warm location, the outside stock on the pallet will rise in temperature while the centre of the pallet is still Frozen.  This can allow bacteria to start growing on the outside food, while waiting for the centre to warm up.  Transkold has a dedicated tempering facility, where it blows chilled temperature air through the pallet thus controlling the rise of temperature in any of the product on the pallet

How Long does it take to temper frozen food?

This will depend on the food.  If it is heavy foods with high moisture content, it can take some time.  If it is a light pastry, it will happen much quicker.  We usually undertake a trial on one pallet and monitor the rise in temperature in a number of places in the pallet to work out the total time needed to temper the pallet

What is the best method to temper frozen food?

This again will depend on the food, and the types of packaging that are in place.  If there are plenty of air spaces around the food, then tempering the food by placing it in a dedicated tempering facility and blowing chilled air through it will work well . If the packaging is quite dense, or there are mullite layers of packaging, then it would be better to place inter levers between the layers of product on the pallet to increase the airflow.

Can tempering affect the quality of frozen food?

As soon as product starts to thaw out, bacteria will start growing.  As a result, it’s important to get from a state of frozen to chilled as quickly as possible.   Ensuring the outer layers of product don’t increase in temperature above a chilled temperature is important to maintain product quality.  A dedicated tempering facility is designed to maintain product quality through the process

What safety precautions should be taken when tempering frozen food?

It is important to have studied the rate of bacterial growth within the product in question to understand how long you have to temper the frozen food.  This will dictate the tempering duration, and the equipment needed to do so.

Is there a difference between tempering and thawing frozen food?

Yes.  Thawing food usually requires placing frozen food in an ambient location, and having its temperature rise naturally over time.  Here the outer layers of the product will increase in temperature above the chilled temperature of +5 C, and will have a higher rate of bacterial growth as a result.  Tempering keeps a high rate of product temperature rise, but doesn’t allow any part of the food to go above chilled temperature, which maintains quality in the food.