Who invented the quick freezing process of preserving food?

American Clarence Birdseye invented the quick-freezing process for preserving food. He got the idea when he saw how the native people in the Arctic preserved meat and fresh fish in barrels of sea water that quickly froze after being exposed to very cold temperature.

Birdseye developed his process in 1923, using an electric fan, brine and ice. He later perfected a manufacturing system that packed fresh food into cardboard boxes lined with wax and flash-froze the food using high pressure. The first quick-frozen products went on sale in Salem Mass., in 1930. One year before that, Birdseye sold his patents and trademarks for $22 million.