Freezing installation for freezing food articles in blocks, particularly seafood, where the food articles prior to being introduced into the freezing installation is arranged in trays, said freezing installation comprising a pre-pressing apparatus and one or more horizontal plate freezers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), said horizontal plate freezer (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) having one or more horizontal freezing plates (31): - means for introducing trays into the pre-pressing apparatus - the pre-pressing apparatus comprises a plurality of horizontal shelves onto which in use the trays are placed, and a top plate (21), said shelves (22) and top plate (21) are stacked on top of each other, where each horizontal shelf and the top plate (21) are connected to at least one actuator such that each shelf and top plate (21) is able to be moved vertically, and the at least one actuator can provide a downwards force in use urging the horizontal shelves and the top plate (21) into contact with the trays positioned on the shelves； - means for transferring the trays from the shelves of the pre-pressing apparatus to the horizontal freezing plates (31) of the one or more horizontal plate freezers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)； - one or more plate freezers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), each having a plurality of freezing plates (31) stacked on top of each other - means for emptying the plate freezer (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and transferring the tray for further processing.
