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From what I have read, ice is a lot less stable than we usually think. Over time the moisture in food will migrate out and form crystals on the surface leaving the food item dehydrated. It’s more or less the same principle they use for freeze drying.
If you ever find crystals on top of your ice cream, it’s the same thing happening.
It’s also made much worse by defrost cycles. During a freezer defrost cycle the air temp in the freezer will often get above freezing. It shouldn’t be above freezing for very long but it can be long enough for the surface of food to thaw very slightly and then refreeze again. This is why food lasts longer in old school chest freezers. Those freezers don’t have any automatic defrost so food isn’t repeatedly slightly thawing and refreezing.
Chest freezers also don’t lose nearly as much cold air when opened compared to upright.