It is a raw cookie dough that is produced at room temp. The product is intended to have an additional processing step conducted by the end consumer. The end consumer is at the food service level. My goal is to reduce the amount of pathogen growth from the time of processing to the time it is placed in the freezer. I can follow guidelines to say the product will be chilled from a room temp to 41 degrees within 4 hours but do I need to prove the amount of time it takes to freeze the product? If so, what guidelines do I follow?
Hi Acunio,
Strictly "freezing" implies attaining a temperature of, say, -18degC, at the slowest cooling point in the product.
Guidelines are primarily safety based, eg micro. activity is assumed to have ceased when slowest cooling point reaches 0degC.
Here is an illustration guideline for a home freezer. Yr own situation will depend on the product size/shape/weight and how you propose to freeze it -
Ideally, a food 2-inches thick should freeze completely in about 2 hours. If your home freezer has a "quick-freeze" shelf, use it. Never stack packages to be frozen. Instead, spread them out in one layer on various shelves, stacking them only after frozen solid.
https://www.fsis.usd...safety/CT_Index
Just as another example, IMEX (seafood) plate freezers have a typical specification that they should be able to reduce the core temperature of a 7kg block of fish from "room temperature" to -18degC in 2 hours.
Another similar thread (there are others) here -
http://www.ifsqn.com...s-for-freezing/