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Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress

Who invented frozen food?

Several individuals, but most credit Clarence Birdseye.

Of course, frozen food has always existed in climates that were cold enough for the food to freeze. Many people developed innovative food-freezing techniques, including Enoch Piper, William Davis, and Daniel E. Somes. However, Clarence Birdseye is credited with inventing in 1924 the quick freezing method, which produces the type of frozen foods that we know today.

While working as a fur trader in Labrador, NF, Canada, Birdseye discovered that the fish that he and the local Inuit caught froze almost immediately after being pulled from the water. He was delighted to discover that the fish was just as delicious when thawed out months later. From this experience, he theorized that food must be frozen very quickly in order for it to retain its taste and texture.

Birdseye was right. Before quick-freezing came along, foods were frozen at a fairly slow rate. This caused large ice crystals to form, which ruptured the cell membranes of the food. When the food was defrosted, the ice crystals melted and water would leak out, taking with it the food’s flavor and texture.

Birdseye developed two methods for quick freezing foods, both of which employed the innovation of packaging the food beforehand.In the first technique, the package was held between two metal belts that were chilled to -40°F to -45°F using a calcium chloride solution.

In the second and more popular technique, the packaged food was held under pressure between two hollow metal plates that were chilled to -25°F by the evaporation of ammonia. Using this method, a two-inch-thick package of meat could be frozen to 0F in about 90 minutes, while fruits and vegetables took about 30 minutes.

Birdseye’s quick-freezing process actually ended up creating 168 patents! These covered not only the freezing technique but also the packaging, type of paper used, and related innovations.

Fun Fact: March is National Frozen Food Month!

Related Web Sites

50 Years of Frozen Foods
The British Frozen Food Federation created this site to promote the book they published under the same name. However, there are some interesting tidbits to be found here regarding the history of frozen foods, especially in the “Frozen Morsels” section.
American Frozen Foods Institute’s History of Frozen Food
The American Frozen Foods Institute (AFFI) is the national trade association representing all aspects of the frozen food industry. This page gives a brief summary of frozen food trends, frozen food industry, and the history of frozen foods.
Frozen Food that is Freezer Friendly
This is a brief article about the history of research of frozen foods by the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Includes the nine principles of freezing vegetables.
Frozen Foods
This is an entry from the Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 2001. It gives a basic definition of frozen foods and also a more detailed history of the development of freezing techniques over the ages.
History of Frozen Food: Long and Varied
The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) maintains this site, which includes a basic history of the development of frozen foods over time.
Inventor of the Week: Clarence Birdseye
This site maintained by the Lemmelson-MIT program gives a profile of Clarence Birdseye and includes some basic information about his development of frozen foods. You can find the patent number for one of his innovations here!