Rapid cooling of porous and moisture foods by using vacuum cooling technology

Vacuum cooling is a rapid evaporative cooling method for porous and moisture foods to meet the special cooling requirements. Vacuum cooling has been used as an effective method for pre-cooling certain type of horticultural products such as vegetables and fruits to prolong their storage life by reducing post-harvest thermal deterioration. Vacuum cooling has also been successfully applied to the processing procedures for some foods such as liquid and baked foods to improve the processing efficiency by shortening the cooling time. Recent research has highlighted the feasibility of vacuum cooling for cooked meats, fishery products and ready meals, for which: rapid cooling is beneficial to controlling growth of micro-organisms and preserving quality of the products. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.