Glossary

AFFI	American Frozen Food Institute.
ASHRAE	American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers. Assets expenses. Expense for any item of economic value owned by an individual or corporation, especially that which could be converted to cash.
Average product temperature	Temperature of the product as an average of temperatures at local freezing sites.
Blanching	Heat treatment by hot water, steam or microwave for a brief period to inactivate enzymes.
Carnot cycle	An idealized reversible thermodynamic cycle, first proposed in 1824 by French engineer Sadi Carnot, is composed of four reversible processes-two isothermal and two adiabatic, and can be executed either in a closed or a steady-flow system.
CFU	Colony Forming Units. The number of viable microbial cells per gram or per milliliter.
Clarence Birdseye	Food technologist who developed quick freezing process and equipment known as a revolution in the freezing industry.
Compressor	Pump of a refrigerating mechanism that draws low pressure on the cooling side of the refrigerant cycle and compresses the gas into the high-pressure side of the cycle.
Condenser	A heat exchanger in which the refrigerant, compressed to a hot gas, and is condensed to liquid by rejecting heat.
Contact freezing	Freezing of a product either direct or indirect contact with the freezing medium.
Controlled atmosphere storage	A common method of storage for some fruits prior to freezing.
Cryogenic	Conditions where temperatures are low enough for gases to condense to become liquids or solids.
Developing countries	Countries in which the average annual income is low, most of the population is usually engaged in agriculture.
Equilibrium Production Rate	The production rate at which minimum unit quantity of product to be sold in order to cover production cost.
Evaporator	The component in a refrigeration system that absorbs heat into the system and evaporates the liquid refrigerant.
Expansion valve	Temperature-sensitive valve located between the condenser and the evaporator to control the refrigerant flow to the evaporator by maintaining the pressure difference.
FAO	Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Fixed cost	Costs that do not change in the short term as a function of changes in production volumes, distribution volumes, labor or machine hours.
Freezer burn	The loss of moisture from food during freezing, resulting in surface texture changes on the food; dry, grainy-textured white or brown colored spots are visible and the food’s flavor decreases in quality.
Freezing capacity (tonnes/h)	Ratio of the quantity of the product that can be loaded into the freezer to the holding time of the product in that particular freezer.
Freezing period	Second stage after pre-freezing while phase change occurs with the transformation of water to ice.
Freezing point depression	The decrease in the freezing point of a solvent caused by the presence of a solute.
Freezing point	The temperature at which first ice crystal appears in the solution.
Freezing rate (°C/h)	The ration of the difference between initial and final temperature of product to freezing time.
Freezing time	Time required to lower product temperature from its initial temperature to a given temperature.
HCFC	Hydrochlorofluorocarbon
IIR	International Institute of Refrigeration
Investment cost	The cost of a purchase or ownership of a security to make money by gaining income, increasing capital, or both.
IQF	Individually quick frozen foods.
LIN	Liquid nitrogen
Local freezing rate (°C/h)	Freezing rate defined at a particular location within the product.
Minimally Processed Foods	Food preservation technology with processing as little as possible, but as much as necessary to achieve safe products with the highest quality.
Moisture-vapor-proof	The property of packaging material for frozen foods to prevent evaporation.
Nucleation	The initial stage in a phase transformation that is evidenced by the formation of small particles (nuclei) of the new phase, which are capable of growing.
Osmosis	The diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane from an area of higher concentration of water to an area of lower concentration of water.
Oxidation	A chemical reaction that occurs when a substance is combined with oxygen; oxidation may lead to degradation or deterioration of the substance.
Pre-freezing stage	Time interval between the starting of freezing process and the appearance of first ice crystal.
Pre-operation expenses	A cost item including licenses, training of workers, which depends on the application.
Primary packaging	A form of packaging which is in direct contact with the food.
Quick-freezing	Freezing sufficiently rapid to retain flavor and nutritional value.
Secondary packaging	A form of packaging used to handle packages together for sale.
Semi-batch freezers	Mode of freezing process in which the product is carried through on trucks that are stationary except when a new truck enters one end of the tunnel moving the others along to release a finished one at the exit.
Surface heat transfer coefficient	The ratio of heat transfer rate to surface area and temperature difference.
Tertiary packaging	The outer package of frozen foods used for bulk transportation.
Thermal center	Geometrical center of the product accepted as reference point for temperature distribution studies.
Thermal conductivity	An intrinsic physical property of a substance, describing its ability to conduct heat as a consequence of molecular motion.
Unfrozen water	A fraction of water remains unfrozen during the freezing process.
USDA	United States Department of Agriculture.
Variable cost	Cost for material, labor or overhead that changes in a traceable and measurable way due to changes in the volume of production units or operating hours in a given period.
WTO	World Trade Organization. The (WTO) World Trade Organization was established in 1995 to enforce the international trade rules established by GATT.