The use of supercooling for fresh foods: A review

• Supercooling of food is reviewed comprehensively.
• Supercooling of a large range of food types is considered.
• The impact of supercooling on food quality and safety is described.
• The advantages and disadvantages of supercooling are discussed.

Supercooling is a food processing technique which has the potential to significantly increase the shelf life of foods and to reduce wastage of food products from the production and retail sectors of the food cold chain. The process uses storage temperatures below the initial freezing point of the food without the product freezing, which maintains the quality attributes associated with fresh foods. The removal of the freezing process leads to shorter processing times from harvest to delivery to retail as well as lower energy consumption (no latent heat removal) and so lower carbon emissions during manufacture when compared to standard frozen food production.