Optimizing radiofrequency (RF) tempering and thawing of whitefish

Summary

Seafood production from frozen raw material requires efficient and gentle thawing to achieve high quality and long shelf life. Since thawing is a slow process it is difficult to time it according to subsequent processing steps as well as fine-tuning the volume to the immediate needs. The main objective of this project was to document and optimize RF processing and the subsequent thawing of frozen HG (headed and gutted) cod in terms of quality and yield. The results from this project show that the RF process is flexible and its contribution in the overall thawing process (consisting of RF followed by conventional thawing) can vary from very limited to an impact that extends considerably more than is necessary for splitting. Thus, RF treatment can simplify and shorten the overall process by enabling block splitting and by reducing the need of conventional thawing.