Ultrasound generation and ultrasonic application on fresh food freezing: Effects on freezing parameters, physicochemical properties and final quality of frozen foods

Recent research on ultrasound has shown that it is a promising technology having a wide range of benefits. This review is aimed to compile the recent development and highlight the major benefits of ultrasound application to assist food freezing. In addition to this, basic mechanisms of ultrasound for freezing process acceleration and equipment used for ultrasound generation are also covered together with a few ultrasonic devices that are mandatory in existing ultrasound-assisted freezing processes. Previous works show that ultrasound-assisted freezing offers various benefits over traditional freezing processes, such as high freezing rate and smaller and even ice crystal size distribution, resulting in better preservation of microstructures and frozen product quality, offering the potential benefits to frozen food industries.