Attila Pavlath, Ph.D., immediate past-president of the Society, and a former researcher at the Center, will present a bronze plaque commemorating the studies to James Seiber, Ph.D., director of the Research Center. The American Chemical Society established the chemical landmarks program in 1992 to recognize seminal historic events in chemistry and increase awareness of the contributions of chemistry to society.
Concerned about the poor quality, color and flavor of frozen foods, manufacturers turned to the Department of Agriculture following the end of World War II for research assistance to investigate the problems. The project was assigned to the Western Regional Research Center where scientists were able to determine the optimum time and temperature at which foods could be frozen. The experiments, which came to be called time-temperature tolerance studies, were conducted on frozen fruits, juices, vegetables, poultry, beef, precooked foods and bakery products.
The studies, which were the first systematic investigations into the quality problems then surrounding frozen food, uncovered chemical changes that frozen foods were undergoing as they made their way from the manufacturer to the consumer.
The scientists found that zero degrees Fahrenheit is the critical temperature for maintaining stability in most frozen foods.
The studies also revealed valuable information about the maximum time that frozen foods can be kept above zero degrees without
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Contact: Judah Ginsberg
j_ginsberg@acs.org
202-872-6274
American Chemical Society
2-Dec-2002