Use of industrial gases in the food industry

In this article devoted to gases in the food industry, we present a very wide range of applications that can be encountered. All sectors, from animal and plant production to point-of-sale food distribution, are concerned. In terms of commercial importance, refrigerant applications, oxygen protection and beverage carbonation are the three main families. Other more exotic and less well-known applications are developed in this article, while noting that the number of gaseous molecular species used is limited for obvious reasons of compatibility with consumer health and therefore compliance with regulations. In this respect, the gases used can claim to be natural and environmentally friendly, simply because they are extracted, separated, purified, liquefied, stored and transported from the atmosphere we breathe. In a way, the user returns to nature, after some time, the "product" he has used to increase the productivity of his process or improve the quality of his manufactured foods. As these applications involve opening up the guts of industrial manufacturing processes, even in agriculture, they are hardly known to the general public, and are aimed primarily at scientists and technicians in the sectors concerned.