"DRY ICE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 12

"DRY ICE."

METHOD EXPLAINED.

NO HARM TO CELL TISSUES.

CARBON DIOXIDE USED.

(Special—By Air Mail.)

LONDON, January 21

Mr. Walter S. Josephson, the American inventor of "dry ice,'" told members of the British Association of Refrigeration in London this week some of the secrete of his quick-freezing process as applied to fruits, vegetables, fish and meat.

Mr. Josephson described his method of freezing in carbon dioxide under high pressure as "instantaneous." A pound of peas can be frozen in less than a minute.

' Due to the rapidity with which heat is extracted," said Mr. Josephson, "the materials are frozen with a total absence of crystal formation; there te no destruction of cell tissues. Upon defrosting, a test on some' of the products treated disclosed that the cells were still alive.

Green tomatoes, for instance, ripened after defrosting. Most of the bacteria and all the spore-bearing bacteria on the surface of the product are killed." Asked about cost, Mr. Josephson replied: "It is inevitable that eome carbon dioxide is lost in the proeess and carbon dioxide is expensive. But on a high-scale operation the cost would be no more than if ammonia were used." Cost of storing frozen foods up to the time of distribution to retailers was another point raised. "I have worked out that under a (temperature from Odeg. to lOdeg. F. below zero, the cost of storage for one pound for one year would be one penny," Mr. Josephson