Accounting for voids within food packages remains a significant challenge for designers of industrial refrigeration equipment. The aim of this work was to assess the impact of the packing arrangement (regular arrangement versus random/irregular arrangement) and the presence of a carton liner bag on freezing rates of trays of chicken legs (‘drumsticks’). The freezing experiments showed that when contained within the liner bag, the packing arrangement of the chicken drumsticks within the tray did not have a significant impact on freezing rate for any of the air velocities investigated based on a 95 % confidence interval. However, the presence of the liner bag had a significant impact on freezing times, increasing them by more than a factor of three at high air velocity (4.3 m/s).