A comprehensive review on isochoric freezing: a recent technology for preservation of food and non-food items

Abstract

Isochoric freezing, a cutting-edge preservation technique, has gained significant attention in recent years due to its potential to revolutionize various industries, including food preservation, biotechnology, and cryopreservation. It effectively increases the shelf life of farm-fresh produce while reducing browning reactions. This review focuses on presenting the state-of-the-art isochoric freezing of foods, emphasizing the fundamental principles that make it special and comprehending its impact on food quality and food and non-food applications, taking papers published in the last ten years into account. In contrast to conventional nonthermal activities, isochoric freezing can be achieved without using additional apparatus such as elevated pressure equipment or pulsed electric fields using simple, inexpensive, rigid closed-volume containers like house refrigerators or commercial cold storage facilities. Recent break-throughs in the field, such as food applications of isochoric freezing in grape tomatoes, spinach, potatoes, sweet cherries, and pomegranates, and non-food applications in mammalian cells, pancreatic islets, Escherichia coli, nematodes, and rat hearts, are highlighted. Hence isochoric freezing is a value-added process that helps to enhance food safety, and therefore on-going research and development in this area can make it an easily accessible preservation method in the near future.