What are freeze-dried foods?

Now consumers are very rational, the pursuit of healthy, nutritious, natural food, instant noodles were once because of deep-fried nutrient-poor and abandoned, the company has made changes to this, the pasta, condiment packages, etc. are towards the direction of health has improved greatly, so once again to win consumers. The ingredients inside the condiment packet are richer, and this kind of freeze-dried food also adds value to the instant noodles.
What is freeze-dried food? Is it only included in instant noodles?
Freeze-dried food, also known as FD (Freeze Dried) food, has the advantage of maintaining its freshness and nutrients, and can be stored at room temperature for more than 5 years without preservatives. It first appeared in the menu of the Apollo astronauts on the moon. Because the finished product is lightweight and easy to carry and transport, freeze-dried food has also begun to enter people’s daily lives, becoming a casual and convenient health food.

The most common is the instant noodles in the “vegetable beef” seasoning packets, dehydration rate of up to 95%.
Some industry insiders pointed out that: compared with the traditional baking, frying, puffed, honeyed food, freeze-dried food to maintain the original natural flavor of food, ingredients, color, aroma, taste, shape, without any additives, can be eaten instantly can be eaten in the soak, eating time, effort, lightweight, easy to carry, but also cater to the “consumer upgrading” in the pursuit of health, quality. It also caters to people’s pursuit of health and quality in “consumption upgrading”.
At present, freeze-dried food in China is relatively conventional, such as freeze-dried fruit slices, freeze-dried vegetables, freeze-dried beef and soup products. The reason why we can achieve such a high dehydration rate and lock the nutrients of the food itself is also dependent on the black technology in the food industry – freeze-drying technology. This technology originated in Russia in the 1940s, and although it came to China relatively late, a mature and perfect supply chain has already been formed in China, but mostly for export.
Freeze-dried food development status at home and abroad
Japan and the United States are freeze-dried food consumption of large countries. Relevant reports show that the United States, Japan freeze-dried food market is relatively mature and beginning to take shape, the annual need for 6 million tons and 2 million tons of freeze-dried food. In China, the current production of freeze-dried food is only 3,000-4,000 tons, a huge difference.
Relevant data show that the United States freeze-dried food is the fastest growing, freeze-dried food in the United States convenience foods accounted for 40% to 50%. Dr. J-H MacNeil of the University of Pennsylvania has predicted that in the future, eggs will become freeze-dried technology to concentrate into a solid content of 18% to 25% or 30% to 40% of the egg products.
Japan can spend up to 100 billion yen (about 4.99 billion yuan) a year on freeze-dried food imports. Freeze-drying technology covers almost most of the new convenience foods. Vitamins, whole egg powder, soybean powder, peanut powder, etc. are freeze-dried to ensure their nutrient content. in the 1990s, the Japanese Toyo FD Foods Ltd. took a different approach by mixing eight kinds of vegetables: greens, spinach, celery, radish leaves, peas, carrots, pumpkin, and shirataki, and then freeze-drying them to make granular vegetables.
This blend of granular vegetables is rich in natural and comprehensive nutrients such as chlorophyll, carotene, vitamins and minerals. Because it is granular, easy to chew, so this granular vegetables are very suitable for infants, the elderly, as well as eating difficulties in the patient and the amount of food restricted athletes, the benefits are quite a lot.
Analyze freeze-dried food in Europe and the United States and Japan is popular because, first, Japan is an island country, small land area, food crop production is small, fresh food vegetables and fruits and other difficult to meet the national consumption, the need for a large number of imports; Japan is a nationally established in the sense of crisis on the country, this awareness caused by Japan’s technological research and development is very advanced, a combination of the two prompted the development of freeze-dried food. And Europe and the United States, from the current diet, and not the diversity of China’s diet, the pursuit of healthy and simple life food.
More and more signs show that this popular in Japan and Europe and the United States, the main healthier and more locked nutrients FD freeze-drying technology, is the Chinese food industry set off a new boom. Some experts have predicted that in the future, the domestic demand for freeze-dried food may reach 8-10 million tons.
The future of domestic freeze-dried food is promising
FD freeze-dried fruit and vegetable slices, is the more common application of domestic freeze-dried food. Searching for the term “freeze-dried” on Taobao, freeze-dried fruits also dominate the sales rankings, with Bacchus’ freeze-dried durian selling 25,000+ per month, priced at RMB 28.9/60g; Liangpinpuzi’s freeze-dried durian selling 25,000+ per month, priced at RMB 28.9/72g; and Three Squirrels’ freeze-dried durian selling 15,000+ per month, priced at RMB 28.9/72g. 15,000+, priced at CNY29.9/72g.
From the point of view of Taobao sales data, freeze-dried food market acceptance of high or some high value-added fruit categories, for example, Bacchus mainly pushed the durian, figs, which the highest freeze-dried durian product sales have reached 2.2 million +, the highest sales of figs is also in the 240,000 +, and the other freeze-dried fruits are only in the tens of thousands or even thousands.
In the past year or two, not only three squirrels, Liangpinpuzi, Bacchus flavor and so on began to launch FD freeze-dried dried fruits and vegetables, millet have products and Netease Yanxuan also online freeze-dried food, but it is mainly freeze-dried instant noodles and soup.
Not only that, more and more food companies are getting on board.
For example, the freeze-dried single product “Qing Fei Fei” jujube and Xianglian silver ear soup of jujube giant Goodwill has exceeded 25 million in six months.
For example, Liantianhong Foods from Jinjiang, Fujian, transformed from traditional candy production to freeze-dried food in 2015, and launched the brand “Have Zero Have Food”, which mainly focuses on freeze-dried fruits and nuts series of natural health food, such as freeze-dried durian, freeze-dried strawberries, and mixed nuts, etc., and has become the industry’s “origin”, “direct sourcing + new retail channels”. It has become a new dark horse in the industry combining “direct sourcing + new retail channels”, and is also the first high-end rest food leader focusing on “freeze-dried durian” in China.
In the category of freeze-dried durian, Yau Yau Yau Food as a manufacturer ranks quite high.
On the other hand, more and more consumers are suffering from the “poison” of deep-processed and additive foods, and more and more people tend to choose natural and healthy foods, and natural ingredients and additive-free foods have become a new trend.
In addition, if the freeze-drying technology is applied to health food, this technology is expected to detonate China’s health industry. China’s health and nutrition food industry is developing rapidly. Effective storage has always been a major problem in the health food industry, and freeze-drying technology can precisely ensure that food nutrients are not lost under the circumstances, change the shape of the food to extend its storage period.
However, the process of using freeze-drying technology for food processing requires a low-temperature or ultra-low-temperature environment with high requirements for processing equipment, which leads to the cost of this processing method being 5-10 times that of other methods, and the processing cost will be a big problem. But with the development of technology and economy, the difficulty of cost will be overcome one day.
As a country rich in agricultural and sideline products, China is in urgent need of deep processing to improve the added value of products, so that the products can go out with quality competitiveness. Freeze-drying technology undoubtedly provides a good channel for the value-added of our agricultural products and meets the three major global food development trends of “green food”, “convenience food” and “health food”. Development trend.
Relevant industry insiders believe that FD technology will be a new trend in the future food industry. The use of a new technology, but also need the market to do after the test. At present, freeze-dried food is still a new concept and new category in China, and there is not much knowledge for consumers. As a listed company in the food industry, you can also be considered to have grabbed a head start in the promotion of the health trend, freeze-dried food is still a promising future.