British refrigeration manufacturer Precision has launched a new cabinet designed to safely thaw frozen food, and store it chilled once it is defrosted. The controlled thaw reach-in cabinet, model PTC70, can defrost up to 70kg of food at a time.
“Thawing frozen product is always an issue,” says Nick Williams, managing director of Precision. “It can be placed in a standard refrigerator cabinet to defrost, but timing is unpredictable at best. Leaving it to thaw outside a cabinet is potentially dangerous and an HACCP minefield. Our new cabinet provides a totally safe, totally predictable solution.”
When frozen food is loaded into the PTC70, heaters turn on to bring it up to temperature under controlled conditions. The cabinet constantly monitors the air temperature and, once the food is defrosted, switches to standard chilled storage automatically. Typically a thaw cycle, from -18°C to 1°C, takes about six hours and most caterers will run the cycle overnight. When the cabinet is in chilled storage mode, the defrosted food can be safely left until it is needed.
Precision’s controlled thaw cabinet is manufactured of stainless steel throughout and uses high performance, zero ODP Ecofoam insulation, which is based on vegetable oils rather than petrochemicals. It can accommodate up to 20 GN 1/1 pans (40mm).
For more information check out the Precision website (www.precision-refrigeration.co.uk), or call the company directly on +44 (0)1842 753 994.