ABSTRACT

Freezing is an important operation in food preservation, for it involves millions of tons of food per year (Pierce 2002).

During freezing, ice formation begins at a temperature Tif, characteristic to each type of foodstuff, and continues over a wide temperature range. The water phase change brings about an important and continuous variation of the characteristic physical properties of the phenomenon (ρ, Cp, k). It is important to take into account that this phase change does not occur at a constant temperature but instead takes place as a dynamic transformation over a range of temperatures, which affects the whole freezing process.