Freezing of meat leat for industrial processing is usually frozen in the form of carcasses, quarters or boned out primals in 25 kg cartons. Most bulk meat, consumer portions and meat products are frozen in air blast freezers. Some small ind viduals items, for example beefburgers, may be frozen in cryogenic tunnels and a small amount of offal and other meat is frozen in plate freezers. It is not unusual for meat to be frozen twice before it reaches the consumer During industrial processing frozen raw material is often thawed or tem- pered before being turned into meat-based products, i.e. pies, convenience meals, burgers, etc or consumer portions, fillets, steaks, and so on. These consumer-sized portions are often refrozen before storage, distribution and 7.1 Freezing rate There are little data in the literature to suggest that, in general, the method f freezing or the rate of freezing has any substantial influence on a meats subsequent storage life, its quality characteristics or final eating quality There is some disagreement in the literature about whether fast or slow freezing is advantageous. Slightly superior chemical and sensory attributes ave been found in food cryogenically frozen in a few trials(Sebranek et al., 1978: Dobryschi et al., 1977; Sebranek, 1980) but other trials did not show any appreciable advantage(Lampitt and Moran, 1933) especially during short term storage(Hill and Glew, 1973). Jackobsson and Bengtson ( 1973) indicated that there is an interaction between freezing rate and cooking method. Meat that had been cooked from frozen was found to7 Freezing of meat Meat for industrial processing is usually frozen in the form of carcasses, quarters or boned out primals in 25kg cartons. Most bulk meat, consumer portions and meat products are frozen in air blast freezers. Some small indi￾viduals items, for example beefburgers, may be frozen in cryogenic tunnels and a small amount of offal and other meat is frozen in plate freezers. It is not unusual for meat to be frozen twice before it reaches the consumer. During industrial processing frozen raw material is often thawed or tem￾pered before being turned into meat-based products, i.e. pies, convenience meals, burgers, etc or consumer portions, fillets, steaks, and so on. These consumer-sized portions are often refrozen before storage, distribution and sale. 7.1 Freezing rate There are little data in the literature to suggest that, in general, the method of freezing or the rate of freezing has any substantial influence on a meat’s subsequent storage life, its quality characteristics or final eating quality. There is some disagreement in the literature about whether fast or slow freezing is advantageous. Slightly superior chemical and sensory attributes have been found in food cryogenically frozen in a few trials (Sebranek et al., 1978; Dobryschi et al., 1977; Sebranek, 1980) but other trials did not show any appreciable advantage (Lampitt and Moran, 1933) especially during short term storage (Hill and Glew, 1973). Jackobsson and Bengtson (1973) indicated that there is an interaction between freezing rate and cooking method. Meat that had been cooked from frozen was found to