Frozen Foods Testing

Frozen food products are experiencing significant market share in recent times and this increasing demand is largely influenced by technological developments in food industry and also socio-economical changes.

The underlying concept of frozen foods is based on inhibiting or preventing the growth of micro-organisms in food and thus reducing the biological and chemical activities as much as possible. This process is done by converting water present in food into ice crystals at low temperatures. The desirable temperature for freezing of foods is –18⁰C.

Positives of Frozen

Freezing of foods is an important preservation method adopted to retain the quality and improve the shelf life of foods.
Major advantage of frozen foods is the convenience and ease they offer while utilizing the products. It is efficient food preservation technique with minimal effect on food quality when compared to thermal processing techniques.
Frozen foods retain their minerals and vitamins and the carbohydrate, fat and protein content almost remain stable.
Frozen foods provide you a time saving convenience and limited kitchen space.
These are affordable, convenient, and contributes in reducing food waste.
Frozen food facilitates availability of all food groups to consumers outside of season also.
These are ready to use foods, especially demanding in urban and city lifestyles.
Nutritional values are well maintained as chemical and biological activities will be hindered.

Limitations of frozen food

If properly handled, frozen foods offer many benefits covering both safety and quality aspects. In case the initial load of microbes is more before subjected to freezing, then the shelf life of the product will be adversely affected. Proper conditions should be maintained for thawing, which plays a central role in efficient consumption of frozen food. As discussed, CCP for frozen produce is the temperature at which they are subjected to storage. If these parameters are not handled properly, then the below defects can be seen which in turn affect the shelf life, quality and safety of the food product.

Flavour and odor deterioration
Structural and chemical changes
Pigment degradation
Enzymatic browning
Auto oxidation
Lipid oxidation
Drip loss
Freezer burn

Safety concerns of frozen foods

Stability of frozen foods is related to composition of the food, temperature and packaging. In order to overcome problems that comes with frozen foods, careful controlling of the initial load of microbes in the food is important. Rapid freezing aids to minimal structural changes. Before usage, the frozen product must be carefully subjected to thawing at low temperature in refrigerator (5⁰C). To prevent drip loss, frozen food product should be immediately used after thawing.

Frozen foods can be best maintained when stored at –18°C (0°F) or lower. If the temperature rises above –18°C, food can become discoloured and lose vitamin and mineral content. The critical control point for frozen foods is the temperature.

Regulations and labelling

Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act 1955 is controlling overall food manufacturing in India. Frozen foods do not have any specific labelling requirements and is described as normal food in rule 32 to 36 in PFA act. FPO, MFPO, weights and measures or legal department of metrology are enforcing the regulations.

Ready to Eat (RTE) foods and Ready to Cook (RTC) foods are rapidly circulating in India. Considering the problems related to thawing, new innovations are being made. Keeping this in view, Frozen RTE foods are developed which are “Freezer to Fire” products and do not require any thawing. They should be used directly from freezer to Oven for heating before serving. The same is the case with RTC food, where they can be directly cooked or deep fried.

Comprehensive portfolio of testing services offered by Eurofins

Eurofins refrigerated and frozen foods testing services provide testing solutions for complex matrices and for new product analysis. our expertise and research capacity will make a constant effort to ensure your food safety and quality journey.

We are amongst the top service providers in food testing. We have a team of experts engaged in frozen food testing by using advance testing instruments and equipment in the laboratory.

Physical analysis of frozen food - Ash, acidity, Ph, acidity, moisture
Chemical analysis of frozen food such as water activity, food additives
Microbial analysis of frozen food – Aerobic plate count, spore forming bacteria, yeasts and molds
Nutritional profile – proximate analysis, sugar profile, fatty acid profile
Vitamins
Minerals
Allergen analysis
Food Authenticity
Fortified food testing
Nutritional labelling
Stability studies – accelerated studies and real time shelf life studies
Microbial challenge studies
Contaminants and residues – metals, processing residues, pesticides
Foreign substance identification
Pathogens – Salmonella, mycotoxins, coli form, Enterobacteriaceae, Listeria species and monocytogenes
Sensory evaluation

The Eurofins significance:

Eurofins team constantly try to ensure sophisticated and accurate quality checks for processed foods in terms of microbiological tests, nutritional compositions, detection of contaminants whether it be physical, chemical or biological by adopting standard protocols.

Competence center with state-of-the-art equipment such GC-MS, GCMSMS, FTIR, ELISA, HPLC, LC-MS/MS, ICP-MS & Real-time PCR
Fast turn-around time (TAT)
Local contact with a Global Network
Participation in industry associations and regulatory bodies allowing early advice on potential food safety concerns
Expert advice - testing schemes, on-site-check for hygiene and allergens, labelling advice and traceability
Results you can rely on
International presence