How Freezing Prolongs the Life of Food

It’s a piece of general knowledge we all tend to learn about fairly early on – if you want your food to last longer, freeze it.

It seems logical, but why is freezing the ideal (and essentially only) option for keeping food good for longer? Also, are there any foods that we shouldn’t freeze?

How Freezing Works

Essentially, freezing works at prolonging the life of food almost indefinitely because it significantly slows down molecules and biological processes that cause food to spoil. Microbes enter a complete dormant stage. As a result microorganisms that play a part in ruining food can’t grow.

It’s important to note, however, that freezing food does not kill bacteria, it simply causes it to become inactive. As soon as you remove your food from the freezer, bacteria and parasites have every chance of starting up again.

Freezing is used for foods because of the fact that it essentially stops the shelf-life. However, just because freezing can do this does not assure a product that’s as fresh as it was on purchase. For example, the longest time seafood is suggested to be frozen for is six months, some even less. You can find out more about that here.

What shouldn’t be frozen

Straight off, you shouldn’t really freeze canned food as it is not wise to freeze food while it’s still in its can. However, if you like, you can remove the food from the can and then freeze it. Eggs should not be frozen either.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with freezing them, it’s suggested that you don’t freeze food such as:

• Mayonnaise
• Cream sauce
• Lettuce

This is because that even though freezing these items can make them last longer, their quality is extremely compromised by doing so. Mayonnaise and cream sauce, for example will be much more watery and less flavoursome.

Freezing simply brings the ageing process of many foods to an almost complete stop. That said, there are still some foods that should best avoid the freezer treatment.

Ultimately, freezing helps maintain the freshness of many goods. These are just some tips on how to keep your food fresh and prolong the life of some other foods.

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* Image source: Editor B