Freezing rate simulation as an aid to reducing crystallization damage in foods.

In food freezing processes the presence of large ice crystals is a serious drawback when a good final quality of the product is desired. To study the size and distribution of those crystals, a large piece of pork muscle has been frozen by liquid nitrogen evaporation. A mathematical model to simulate different cooling rates at the surface of the product was solved using a finite element method; this model satisfactorily fitted experimental data and predicted local freezing rates at different locations in the meat tissue. The model was applied to find the freezing rates that led to a good quality product, related to an optimum distribution of small ice crystals located inside and outside the tissue fibres.