The effectiveness of electromagnetic (EM) freezing in improving freezing kinetics and/or the quality of frozen foods constitutes a current controversial topic in Food Technology. The dipolar nature of water could explain potential effects of electric fields on freezing, but the physical basis that supports effects of magnetic fields on freezing is not clear. Therefore, it is in some way striking that the only EM freezers existing at the market are those that generate magnetic, and not electric, fields to assist the freezing process. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the state of the art in EM freezing is presented. The results reported in the literature on the effects of both static and oscillating, either electric or magnetic, fields on supercooling and freezing kinetics are controversial, even for the simplest system, that is, pure water. Moreover, the reviewed results show that frequency and dielectric relaxation could play an important role on water supercooling. Thus, positive effects on freezing have been found in experiments with oscillating, both electric and magnetic, fields of frequencies significantly higher than that of the mains. As oscillating electric fields are induced in the presence of oscillating magnetic fields, this opens a door to explain the potential effects of oscillating magnetic fields on freezing. For a correct interpretation of the data, future research should consider any induced field during the freezing experiments and its potential consequences. All the above reveals the urgent need to perform high-quality scientific research and well-designed experiments, at wide field strengths and frequencies, that can be replicated and confirmed by different laboratories.

电磁（EM）冷冻在改善冷冻动力学和/或冷冻食品质量方面的有效性构成了食品技术中当前有争议的主题。水的偶极性质可以解释电场对冻结的潜在影响，但是支持磁场对冻结的影响的物理基础尚不清楚。因此，从某种意义上说，令人惊讶的是，市场上仅有的EM冷冻机是那些会产生磁场而不是电场来协助冷冻过程的冷冻机。在本文中，对EM冷冻技术的现状进行了全面回顾。即使对于最简单的系统（即纯净水），文献中报道的有关静磁场和电磁场（无论是电场还是磁场）对过冷和冻结动力学的影响的结果也存在争议。此外，审查结果表明，频率和介电弛豫可能对水过冷起重要作用。因此，在振荡频率大于电源频率的电场和磁场中的实验中发现了对冻结的积极影响。由于在存在振荡磁场的情况下会感应出振荡电场，因此这为解释振荡磁场对冻结的潜在影响打开了一扇门。为了正确解释数据，未来的研究应考虑冷冻实验过程中的任何感应场及其潜在后果。以上所有这些都显示了迫切需要在宽广的场强和频率下进行高质量的科学研究和精心设计的实验，