Step 1: Understanding the question.
Direct immersion freezing involves submerging the food directly into a cold refrigerant. The refrigerant used should be efficient in rapidly reducing the temperature of food.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
- (A) Incorrect, monochlorodifluoromethane is used as a refrigerant in other applications but not commonly in food freezing.
- (B) Incorrect, dichlorodifluoromethane is not typically used for direct immersion freezing of food.
- (C) Correct, liquid nitrogen is widely used in direct immersion freezing because it has a very low boiling point, allowing for rapid freezing of food.
- (D) Incorrect, Freon is used in refrigeration systems, but it is not typically used for direct immersion freezing of food.
Step 3: Conclusion.
Thus, the correct answer is (C) Liquid nitrogen.