Abstract:

Vacuum cooling is a clean and rapid technology for cooling the porous and moist foods, and has been widely
applied to vegetables, fruits, bakery food, viscous foods, fishery products, minced meat and cut flowers. However, it has a
number of inherent limitations (e.g. high weight loss and big initial cost) compared to traditional cooling methods such as
air-blast cooling, hydrocooling and so on, which have not yet been solved thoroughly. With the rapid development of the
modern society, higher standards related to food safety are required by consumers. The role played by the vacuum cooling
technology in the food safety field is becoming more and more important, because it is the best alternative method for
rapid cooling hot food. With the aim of promoting further study on vacuum cooling, this paper reviews recently published
literature regarding this technology and puts forward some suggestions.

Key words: food science, pre-cooling technology, vacuum cooling, heat and mass transfer, weight loss