“To stay competitive, food processors must respond to a 3-way challenge—they must increase production, reduce operating costs and maximize yield, all at the same time,” says Mark DiMaggio, head of food and beverage for Linde, LLC, Murray Hill, N.J.“Our exclusive impingement freezing technology addresses this challenge.”

The patented impingement freezer is said to produce 3-5 times the capacity of a conventional cryogenic or ammonia-based tunnel freezer in the same linear space.

“That means it can substantially lower the cost of many freezing operations,” says DiMaggio.

The Linde impingement freezer is ideal for a range of products—from marinatedor formed chicken or meatproducts to prepared foods such as raw cookie dough and fully topped premium pizzas. 

For Kayem Foods Inc., a meat processor based in Chelsea, Mass., Linde installed an impingement freezer in less than a week, and essentially doubled the line’s freezing capacity in the same space. The new freezer runs a variety of fresh sausage products, including al fresco chicken sausage links, burgers and grillers, Kayem Fenway Italian Sausage and Kayem Brats. 

Benefits

·         Foods are frozen with a high degree of consistency for increased production capacity at highest yields.

·         Said to reduce dehydration/weepage losses more than any other cryogenic or mechanical freezing process.

·         Hygienic design makes the freezer easy to clean, which also saves time.
 

How it works
In the patented food freezing process, an initial blast of liquid nitrogen spray crust-freezes the surface of the food product. Food items are then impinged from above and below with a robust, high-velocity flow of nitrogen vapor as they travel on the belt, maximizing heat transfer. The ultra-cold gas flows across and around the food product, and is re-circulated as the food travels through the freezer to maximize the efficient use of nitrogen while helping to preserve yield, freshness, flavor and form.

Linde has been engineering cryogenic food freezing and chilling solutions for decades. The Linde food team performs in-plant assessments and works with food processors to develop optimal solutions.