Emerging Technologies for Food Processing, 2nd Edition

29.4. Historical Review of AFP Research

The occurrence of antifreeze activity in cold-tolerant ectotherms was first observed almost 50 years ago, both by Ramsay (1964) in hemolymph from the common mealworm Tenebrio molitor, and by Scholander et al. (1957) in arctic fish.

Scholander et al. (1957) and Gordon et al. (1962) observed that in arctic fish, the total amount of determined osmotically active substances did not account for the freezing point observed, and thus the fish were supercooled even in water where ice was present. They also made the observation that “Only some tom-cods (Boreogadus) seemed to be unhurt at −1.73 °C, but they died with ice spicules visible in the eyes at −2.5 °C” (Scholander et al., 1957). These observations are in good ...