Seafood processor finds a cool way to increase productivity

21 September 2020

Following an increase in demand for its seafood products Leroy Seafood explored individual quick-freezing (IQF) technology in a bid to find freezing equipment that would enable it increase production capacity at its facility in Norway.

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Leroy Seafood had made good use of a spiral freezer from Starfrost so the seafood processor once again turned to the company for new IQF equipment for its fish fillet processing line.

The Helix spiral freezer supplied by Starfrost has enabled the company to increase production of its fish fillet products by more than 30%. This newly IQF spiral freezer is said to offer a leap forward in design, efficiency and ease of maintenance. In comparison to its replacement, it has a 50% larger belt area and has been designed to operate with the same fan power, the result seen by Leroy Seafood is a significant increase in product output with zero increase in energy use.

The custom designed solution includes a Clean in Place (CIP) system that delivers automated cleaning and sanitising throughout the freezing system. Advances in Starfrost’s CIP technology now enables a reduction of water usage while still achieving high levels of hygiene standards.

The spiral freezer has been designed to freeze 1,100kg per hour of vacuum packed fish fillets. It features an innovative IQF airflow technology which delivers consistent freeze to the products.

Commenting on the solution, Ronny Holen, engineering manager at Leroy Seafood discusses the expansion project and what difference the new spiral freezer has made to production:

"When we required more capacity of our seafood products, it was a great opportunity to invest in a new freezing system that featured the latest in IQF technology.

“We required a spiral freezer to increase output of our frozen fish fillets, we also needed a solution that could be quickly installed to ensure we were ready to begin production in time for the seafood season. Starfrost delivered all of our requirements and we are extremely satisfied with the performance of the spiral freezer, which has streamlined processes at our facility.”

The new spiral freezer is fully automated and operates continuously which has allowed a reduction in production hours and labour while delivering production capacity increases of more than 30%.