Flake ice, slurry ice or nanoICE: how to choose the best fit for you

Regardless of being an seafood harvester, aquaculture producer, processor or distributor, you will always face the challenge of preserving your products for longer and ensuring that you sell them for the best price possible. You need an accessible, easy to use and high-quality solution to keep the products fresh.

SSo, what are your options for the freshest results?

1. Flake Ice

Flake ice the oldest and most conventional cooling solution used in the seafood industry. Sometimes called frosty or chip, the flake ice is essentially frozen water that you need to shovel before you apply it to your product. Flake ice’s large chips have a lower surface area which results in an uneven cooling distribution. It is particularly abrasive to delicate perishables as flake ice has sharp edges which cause bruising, scratching and breakage which results in a lower demand product.

The notable upside is it is always the cheapest and most easily accessible option for you, but at the expense of increased weight and nutrition loss.

2. Slurry ice

Liquid ice solutions like Slurry Ice (sometimes called gel ice), use small ice crystals to absorb heat from fresh products. They have good flow properties and are easily distributed through conventional pumps to create a uniform contact with the product surface. This is a step up from flake ice, but it lacks the deepest level of cooling transfer to products. This sometimes results in the desire to use other additives to impart better cooling which is becoming less and less desirable by consumers.

The major drawback of these systems is that they are significantly larger, more expensive, and less friendly to operate than most other commercial ice machines.

3. NanoICE

NanoICE is a true revolution in fresh food preservation. This is a unique technology that uses minuscule ice particles to help you keep food fresh for longer, while drastically reducing bacterial growth and spoilage. It is made entirely of sea water or fresh water with salt and does not require any additional chemicals to work efficiently.

Since the particles are less than a micron in size, they create a deep level contact with the product and lower the temperature more effectively than any others ice solutions on the market.

Also, nanoICE is silky soft it makes it a perfect fit if you want to preserve fresh perishable materials that are extremely delicate like oysters, langoustine, crab but also has a fantastic result on all fish. Additionally, it does not damage or bruise products – whether we’re talking about seafood, fruits, vegetables, poultry or meats.

Do you want to increase the shelf-life of your products without any loss of sellable weight?

See what else nanoICE has to offer and send us a quick message if you have any questions!