ABSTRACT The design of food refrigeration equipment requires estimation of the cooling and freezingtimes of foods and beverages, as well as the corresponding refrigeration loads. The accuracyof these estimates, in turn, depends upon accurate estimates of the surface heat transfercoefficient for the cooling or freezing operation. A unique iterative algorithm, utilizing theconcept of “equivalent heat transfer dimensionality,” was developed to obtain heat transfercoefficients from cooling curves. Cooling curves were obtained from an industrial survey,and, utilizing the iterative algorithm, heat transfer coefficients were determined for variousfood items. A small portion of that data presented in this paper. This information will makepossible a more accurate determination of cooling and freezing times and correspondingrefrigeration loads. Introduction In many food processing applications, including cooling and freezing, transient convective heattransfer occurs between a fluid medium and the solid food item [1]. Knowledge of the surface heat transfercoefficient is required to design the equipment wherein convection heat transfer is used to process foods andbeverages. Newton's law of cooling defines the surface heat transfer coefficient,