University of Hawaii researchers have received a $500,000 federal grant to study a high-tech new way to preserve food for storage and shipping.

Soojin Jun of the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources proposed a research project to address the loss of quality in food items due to freezing and thawing during storage and transportation, which leads to waste and a decrease in value.

During the freezing process, the formation of ice can result in irreversible damage to tissue structures in a variety of foods. Jun’s project aims to preserve food’s original freshness by preventing ice crystallization of water using combined pulsed electric and magnetic fields.

In a process known as "supercooling," the water temperature drops below freezing, but there is no transition to ice thanks to the fields.

The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture provided the three-year grant to Jun, an associate professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, and Peter Berkelman, an associate professor in the UH-Manoa College of Engineering.

The proposed technology has the potential to ensure food quality and freshness during storage. The length of storage can also be extended.

"As long as the developed freezing technology is applied, the implemented supercooling stage of food materials, i.e., meat, fruits, fish, etc., can be longer, we anticipate," Jun said in a statement Friday. "We plan to investigate the max extension of the supercooling stage and its stability as well."

Beyond the food industry, the supercooling technology holds possibilities for use in medical applications such as organ and tissue transplantation, the scientists said.