Influence of defrosting on food preservation in a household refrigerator.

A study was carried out on defrosting phenomena and its influence on food preservation inside a household refrigerator. Potato samples were tested during their freezing process while defrosting occurs. The frozen potato samples were also tested during defrosting process. The results showed that the temperature fluctuation of the freezing chamber during defrosting is about 4.58 times as much as the one without defrosting. Defrosting elongates freezing time, 13.5% increase in the maximum crystallization stage and 5.1% increase in the whole freezing time for the tested sample. Defrosting also affects the temperature fluctuation of the frozen food, about 5.45 times of that without defrosting.