Cooling and Deep-freezing 

of Industrial Pre-Fried French Fries and Similar Products in a Simple Way

Most of the industrially pre-fried French fries in Germany are sold as fresh products (refrigerated between +4 and +10 degrees centigrade) to restaurants, big canteens and snack bars. If they are kept refrigerated until consumption, they will not, as a rule, go bad for seven days. Also in the neighbouring West European countries fresh goods are more popular than deep-frozen products. In the United Kingdom and the USA, however, it’s deep-frozen goods that occupy the first place.

There are cooling tunnels with cooling aggregates and deepfreeze tunnels. The purchase of such tunnels requires, however, high investment sums.

In the following we describe, as far as cooling/deep-freezing is concerned, a more simple but more personnel-intensive solution.

The products to be deep-frozen are put e. g. on special perforated aluminium sheet vessels with continuous borders. The thickness of the French fries’ layers can be varied (abt. 30 mm). The temperature of the products, after the frying process and cooling on a cooling conveyor belt or cooling table, will amount to approx. 10 degrees centigrade above the ambient temperature.

After that, the sheet vessels are placed on trolleys with shelf units to be pushed into a specially-provided deep-freezing or shock-freezing room at a temperature of approximately -30 to -38 degrees centigrade.

Perhaps there is a cooling room for fresh goods that should have a temperature of abt. +4 degrees C. This can serve as temporary storage place for the trolleys, in order to effect the cooling of the products, before deep-freezing.

After cooling the French fries, the product will be packed in cartons, manually or by machine, in the above mentioned cooling room. After  that it will be stored in a cooling room with a temperature of approx. - 18 degrees centigrade.

If fresh products are produced, their temperature must not exceed +10° centigrade on delivery. They will be placed on special trolleys with shelf units, in open 5-kg or 10-kg cartons, to be put in a cooling room with a temperature of abt. + 4° C. The cartons will not be closed until the French fries have cooled down.

As far as the above described procedures and products are concerned, we refer to French fries with a moisture content of abt. 65% to 68% in fresh goods and 68% to 73% in deep-frozen goods.

This paper contains non-committal notes. We do not lay claim to completeness. Alterations reserved. 
Our order confirmation, accepted by our customers, is in effect upon delivery. The presentation of a new edition of this treatise will substitute for any previous versions. 
Copyright by DORNOW food technology GmbH, D-40549 Düsseldorf

DORNOW total on the Web:                www.dornow.de   /    www.dornow.com

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Dornow food technology GmbH, Willstätterstr. 12, D-40549 Düsseldorf - Germany, USt-Id.-Nr. DE119264470
Tel. ++49-211-527060, Mobile ++49-172-2614932, Fax ++49-211-596883, email office@dornow.de, Internet: www.dornow.de, 
Commerzbank AG, Konto-No. 1452333, BLZ 300 400 00, Managing Director Karl-Dietrich Dornow, Amtsgericht Düsseldorf, HRB 22597