Abstract: Due to their high-water activity and perishable nature, the freezing and thawing processes significantly impact the quality of aquatic products. This review systematically analyzes the mechanisms, application effectiveness, advantages, and disadvantages of traditional freezing techniques including air blast freezing, liquid nitrogen freezing, and novel freezing techniques including high-pressure assisted freezing, ultrasound-assisted freezing, and electric/magnetic field-assisted freezing, etc. It focuses on elucidating how these techniques affect key quality attributes of aquatic products such as ice crystal morphology, protein structure, juice loss, color, and texture. By synthesizing recent progress in air thawing, water thawing, and physical field-assisted thawing techniques, this paper highlights the potential of combined thawing techniques as well as emerging methods such as those based on magnetic nanoparticles in enhancing thawing efficiency, uniformity, and quality preservation. This review aims to provide a theoretical basis and reference for quality control and process optimization of frozen aquatic products, thereby advancing the development and application of green, efficient freeze-thaw technologies.

Key words: aquatic products; freezing techniques; thawing techniques; quality control; physical field-assisted