Food Engineering logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Food Engineering logo
  • NEWS
    • Latest Headlines
    • Manufacturing News
    • People & Industry News
    • Plant Openings
    • Recalls
    • Regulatory Watch
    • Supplier News
  • PRODUCTS
    • New Plant Products
    • New Retail Products
  • TOPICS
    • Alternative Protein
    • Automation
    • Cannabis
    • Cleaning | Sanitation
    • Fabulous Food Plants
    • Food Safety
    • Maintenance Strategies
    • OEE
    • Packaging
    • Sustainability
    • More
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Plant Construction Survey
    • Plant of the Year
    • Sustainable Plant of the Year
    • State of Food Manufacturing
    • Top 100 Food & Beverage Companies
  • MEDIA
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • FOOD MASTER
  • EVENTS
    • Food Automation & Manufacturing Symposium and Expo
    • Industry Events
  • RESOURCES
    • eNewsletter
    • Custom Content & Marketing Services
    • FE Store
    • Government Links
    • Industry Associations
    • Market Research
    • Classified Ads
  • EMAGAZINE
    • eMagazine
    • Archive Issue
    • Advertise
  • SIGN UP!
Case Studies & Field Reports

Field Reports

Rolling in the dough

A new IQF freezer leads to gains in productivity for a frozen foods processor.

CRYOLINE CW CRYOWAVE IQF freezer

The Linde CRYOLINE CW (CRYOWAVE) IQF freezer quick freezes a range of fully cooked, stuffed and unstuffed gourmet Italian pastas for Pierino Frozen Foods, Inc. Source: Linde.

January 28, 2016

Since the mid-‘60s, family-owned, Lincoln Park, MI-based Pierino Frozen Foods, Inc. has built its reputation on quality. It now sells a range of gourmet pasta products across the foodservice, industrial and retail segments.

But when Gianni Guglielmetti, the president of the company, decided to upgrade its gourmet pasta operation, he could not have foreseen the 2015 egg crisis. Pierino purchases Grade A eggs in bulk to make pasta noodles. Because eggs have become increasingly expensive since the avian bird flu crisis began, improving processing efficiency is more important than ever for Pierino Frozen Foods.

Guglielmetti first began exploring a new way to individually quick freeze (IQF) after learning about a new rolling-wave IQF freezer from Linde LLC. The CRYOLINE CW (CRYOWAVE) IQF freezer had already proven successful at individually quick freezing diced poultry, meatballs, mushrooms and other foods. However, stuffed pastas are far more fragile than, for example, diced chicken or shrimp. The question became: Could this freezer handle gourmet pastas with little or no breakage?

Fully cooked pastas are still moist from the boiler, so they tend to stick together and to the belt while entering the tunnel freezer. Since appearance is a hallmark of quality in gourmet pasta, any pieces locked together, clumped or broken during quick freezing have to be scrapped. Pierino’s existing freezer used steam injection to minimize these problems and required at least two inspectors upstream to keep the pieces apart on the belt.

The CRYOWAVE IQF freezer uses a rolling-wave action that agitates the moist pasta on the belt to keep the pieces separate, prevent them from sticking to the belt and improve the flow of cryogen around them. The result is more rapid heat transfer, a much higher throughput and lower operating costs.

In addition, the CRYOWAVE IQF freezer, which uses either liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide, doesn’t produce the snow buildup associated with other types of cryogenic freezers, reducing the need for frequent cleaning. Guglielmetti says the CRYOWAVE freezer gives Pierino Frozen Foods the advantages of quality, productivity and competitiveness. “Commodity prices on eggs have just gone through the roof, so it’s nice to have some efficiencies in the facility to combat that,” he states.

The new freezer has helped the plant reduce losses due to tears and breakage, and achieve more consistent product quality. In fact, the 30,000-sq.-ft. facility became quality certified in June in accordance with Global Food Safety Initiative protocols.

“Not only do you need that certification a lot of times just to bid on a project, you also have to be the low-cost producer and have the capacity to fill big orders at the right price. Linde has helped us with these issues,” Guglielmetti explains.

Before Pierino installed the CRYOWAVE freezer, a variety of its filled and unfilled gourmet pasta products were tested at the Linde Food Labs in Cleveland, OH. During commissioning, the Linde Food team optimized the process—the belt speed, temperature and wave frequency—to maximize productivity for each pasta recipe and noodle size.

The five-meter freezer has an incoming belt that can be layered, allowing 25 to 40 percent more product to be quick frozen per hour. Plus, the new IQF freezer line only requires one worker on the incoming side, instead of the two required by the previous method. 


For more information:

Amy Ficon, 908-771-1491,
amy.ficon@linde.com, www.lindeus.com.

KEYWORDS: freezing

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
to unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Global Organic Food & Beverage Market to Grow

    Global Organic Food & Beverage Market to Grow

    With a CAGR of 12.07%, Bonafide Research estimates this...
    People & Industry News
  • skilled MEP worker

    Predicting Food and Beverage Manufacturing Trends for 2024

    The two words that should be kept in mind are labor and...
    Automation
    By: Derrick Teal
  • cleaning and sanitation

    The basics of cleaning and sanitation in food plants

    Sanitation maintains or restores a state of cleanliness...
    Food Safety
    By: Richard F. Stier
Manage My Account
  • eMagazine
  • eNewsletter
  • Online Registration
  • Manage My Preferences
  • Customer Service

More Videos

Popular Stories

Cargill Cocoa Plant

Cargill Invests in its Cocoa Supply Chain

Campbell’s Utah plant

Going for Gold(fish): Inside The Campbell’s Company’s $160M Cracker Plant Expansion

Woman engineer on construction site

Exploring the Impact of Women Engineers on the Food Industry

CHECK OUT OUR NEW ESSENTIAL TOPICS

Alternative ProteinAutomationCleaning/SanitationFabulous Food Plants

Food SafetyMaintenance StrategiesOEE

PackagingSustainability

Events

June 17, 2025

Refrigerated & Frozen Foods’ State of the Cold Chain

On Demand Kelley Rodriguez, Editor in Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, will be joined in this 60-minute webinar by industry experts to help unpack the latest research.

July 23, 2025

Decarbonizing Process Heat: What You Should Know and Next Steps

Driven by climate goals, business risk, client interest, and resilience considerations, food and beverage companies are increasingly turning their attention to decarbonizing their production processes.

View All Submit An Event

Products

Recent Advances in Ready-to-Eat Food Technology

Recent Advances in Ready-to-Eat Food Technology

See More Products

Plant of the Year

Related Articles

  • Compressed air system helps save 'dough' in energy usage

    See More
  • Annie’s Inc. to recall pizzas over metal shards in dough

    Annie’s Inc. to recall pizzas over metal shards in dough

    See More
  • The soft dough challenge

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • GlobalData_logo_blue_header.png

    Country Profile: Syrups & Spreads in the US

  • GlobalData_logo_blue_header.png

    Trends and Opportunities in the US Packaging Industry...

See More Products
×

Elevate your expertise in food engineering with unparalleled insights and connections.

Get the latest industry updates tailored your way.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Food Master
    • Store
    • Want More
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing