Nov 01 (Nikkei) - The frozen food business has a century-long history in Japan, giving it a solid foundation to prosper from the exigencies of the pandemic, which has forced increasing numbers of people to eat and work at home.
A raft of frozen food services and related products has emerged to cater to their needs, ranging from home delivery to machines that freeze food more efficiently. Domestic sales of frozen foods are expected to hit an all-time high in 2020.
Fruit has also benefited from evolving refrigeration technology.
At a fruit processing plant in Toyooka, a village in southern Nagano Prefecture, workers use knives to peel fruits -- apples, pears, strawberries and grapes -- and remove imperfections before cutting them into small, bite-size pieces. They are then rapidly frozen to minus 30-35 C in two quick-freezers that blow cold air from all directions.
Quick-frozen strawberries have many thin white ice crystals on their surfaces.
Frozen fruits tend to lose their taste, texture and color over time. But the plant's quick-frozen fruits can be stored for more than three years without an appreciable loss in quality, retaining crispness and taste after thawing.
The plant, which started full-scale operation earlier in October, is run by Minami Shinshu Creation, a local startup that launched in April. The business was set up by its president, Takayuki Maeda, who moved to the village as part of a local government program to recruit people who can help stimulate the economy. The company produces high-quality cut fruits thanks to the support of Day Break, a Tokyo-based company that sells commercial specialty freezers.
Freezer manufacturers and other related businesses are racing to ramp up pandemic-induced sales.
In early October, a massive three-day exhibition of food-related products and technologies in Tokyo attracted 28,000 visitors, despite the pandemic. The Reishoku Japan 2020 exhibit attracted especially large crowds. The first-time exhibition at the annual trade show featured a compact L-shaped freezer developed by Takahashi Galilei, an Osaka-based freezer maker.
Food makers generally use tunnel freezers, in which a product travels along a conveyor belt through a long tunnel that blasts cold air at minus 35 C to quick-freeze products.
