A computer engineer by education, Ashutosh Malik has a sharp understanding of technology and excellent hospitality skills. From having run multiple businesses in the service industry for over 30 years. He is a foodie by nature and very excited to be able to combine his passion for engineering with his passion for food which he has realised with High Life Cuisine & Meatington.
Who doesn’t need an easy access to a healthy & simplified lifestyle? Frozen food has made it possible to eat tasty & nutritional meals without much hassle. There is an increasing demand for healthy frozen food that can be consumed anywhere and anytime, which presents a high potential for frozen foods now and in future. There is a growing demand for healthy frozen food that is driving more food manufacturers to produce it. Since frozen food sales have steadily increased over the past few years, they’ve been boosted by millennials, who prioritize four factors in their nutrition: convenience, affordability, healthfulness, and sustainability. Frozen food is therefore an ideal choice for this generation.
Packaged frozen food preserves nutrients from the moment it is prepared till it is consumed. Packaging helps maintain the food’s original color, taste, and texture. The packaging used for frozen foods is continuously crafted and manufactured to the highest standard possible. The advantages of frozen food are becoming more widely known, so manufacturers are responding to this need by creating highly secure packaging for their products to increase customer awareness and maximize appeal.
Historically, freezing food is a technology, a method that has helped to preserve it since the dawn of time, and has been around for thousands of years. Furthermore, it is pertinent to note that many frozen food customers, in addition to direct consumers, are hotels, fast food restaurants, restaurants, catering companies, and so forth. The growing popularity and trends of millennials eating frozen food have made it further imperative for the food industry to embrace and innovate cutting-edge technologies to keep frozen food fresh, nutrient-rich, and appealing.
Frozen food falls into six main categories: frozen fruits, frozen vegetables, meat, soup, seafood & frozen snacks such as pizzas, kebabs or paranthas etc. Generally, frozen foods are less expensive than fresh foods, even though freezing involves packaging and freezing items at the peak of their freshness. That is to say that once defrosted, they remain as fresh as they were before freezing. The convenience of frozen food is also greater than that of conventional food, particularly ready-to-eat meals, and frozen veggies. Prior to freezing, vegetables are blanched and chopped so people don’t have to cut them before cooking.
Although a variety of methods have been introduced over the years for freezing food, blast freezers are among the most advanced and popular methods of freezing. Over the years, the blast freezing technology has evolved in many ways. The blast freezers freeze the food by moving frigid air to cool the food to extreme freezing temperatures. Refrigerated air is circulated over the product either placed in trays or on belts to freeze it evenly. Processed food requires high velocity air to penetrate at a high speed. Contact Freezer is another method to freeze food by immersing it in cold liquid. Processed foods, however, are not recommended to use this method.
Cryogenic Freezing is a method using gases such as Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide to bring the product to below freezing temperatures. Vegetables, fruits, and shrimps are usually frozen using this method. To minimize waste, these items can be quickly frozen or bulk frozen before packaging. Minimum maintenance is required in this process and the process is cost-effective. Cryogenic freezers speed up freezing process and reduce damage during production.
At Meatington, we use blast freezing that brings the food down to extreme freezing temperatures. Blast freezers throw high velocity of cool air to cool the product to its core quickly. The more sophisticated the blast freezing equipment is, the better it is for the product. This helps to control bacteria growth and keeps nutrients intact. The product does not disintegrate on heating if it is blast frozen quickly. Therefore, it is important to understand the science behind this process to be able to produce a premium frozen product for the consumer.
The technology is simple but its application on each product is unique to the texture and consistency of the product. After freezing, our product is packed in LD pouches and put through state-of-the-art vacuum machines to vacuum pack to avoid oxidization. It is then run through a sophisticated metal detector that can pick on any unforeseen elements.After all quality checks the product is sent for final packaging. We, at Meatington, store the vacuum-packed frozen food in our -18 degree freezer until we are ready to package it and dispatch it
Frozen food should be ideally stored in aluminium foil laminated packages that retain the quality and kept in -18 degrees. Meatington pouches are made to be stored in deep freezers for months to ensure freshness when heated. Our final packs are shipped in refrigerated vans for institutional deliveries and in insulated boxes for smaller deliveries. Most importantly, utmost care is given to all frozen products until they reach their destination.
With new technology and innovations, the frozen food market is all set to grow exponentially in the coming years, and with that comes a surge of variety which will be added to the frozen food category!!!