Frozen Food Regulation
As is usual in Germany, there is a regulation for this. It is called: "Regulation on frozen food". In the excerpt it says: ...are foods that have been subjected to an appropriate freezing process (deep-freezing), during which the area of maximum crystallization is traversed as quickly as necessary according to the type of food, with the effect that the temperature of the food at all its points after thermal stabilization is at least minus 18 degrees Celsius, and are brought into circulation with a note indicating that they are frozen."
The experiences with freezing have been around for a very long time. Already Emperor Nero was said to keep fruits fresh with ice and snow from the mountains. In the 15th century, one began cooling water by adding saltpeter. In 1851, the first refrigeration machine for making ice was patented in the USA. In 1911, artificial ice production began mechanically. With freezing food, it started with fish. It was frozen directly after catching. This was patented in 1911. On this basis, research continued and so sales of frozen food began in America in 1930. The boom for frozen food in Germany came in the 50s, thanks to a large food fair.
Selection of Frozen Vegetables
These days, the selection of frozen food is huge. There are four different branches of frozen food
- kitchen-ready raw products, such as vegetables or fruit that are already cleaned and chopped
- cooking-ready products, like fish sticks that only need to be fried
- preparation-ready partial dishes, like creamed spinach that only needs to be heated up
- ready-to-eat products that form a complete menu and only need to be brought to temperature
Dessert ice does not count as frozen food because it does not necessarily have to be stored at -18°C. The popularity of frozen food is shown in the amount used, which has risen from 2.4 million tons to 3.2 million tons over ten years. This is understandable since frozen food saves a lot of work. Taking out pre-cleaned and chopped bell peppers from the freezer goes much faster than cleaning and cutting a bell pepper yourself. Those that are processed and frozen directly after harvesting are even fresher than fresh ones bought at the store, as these have some travel time (from farmer to wholesaler to retailer) behind them.