Cryofreezer puts more prawns on your plates

Anyone with a microwave oven knows the problem. You take the ready-to-cook meal out of the freezer and think 'well, there's not enough for one in that.' So, a victim of someone else's idea of portion-control, you end up either still hungry or guilty after you tuck into two meals-for-one.

Soon, however, all your problems could be over. The latest in convenience foods frozen sauce-coated meals are rapidly gaining market share in Continental Europe and, according to Air Products, are set to be one of the most important growth areas in UK frozen foods.

Because the ingredients of these so-called 'pan-dishes' they can be cooked in one pan are 'individually quick frozen' , rather than presented as a solid frozen block, you simply take as much as you want out of the packet or as little, if you're on a diet and pop it in the oven or microwave, knowing that the balance of ingredients is right each time.

Air Products' involvement centres on its Cryo-Tumbler liquid nitrogen freezers, two of which have been installed by one of France's leading frozen food producers, Primel, at its Brittany factory. The first, a 450-litre model CT 1400, was installed in September 1996 and the second, a larger 850-litre CT 1900, in May last year. Six months later, after successful R&D work, the first dishes frozen with the new technology started appearing in well-known outlets such as Leclerc and Continent.

Each Cryo-Tumbler has temperature-controlled nitrogen injection, a sauce-injection lance and a process control system.