A 100-year-old freezer rule has a hidden climate cost
Frozen food worldwide is still kept at −18°C (0°F). Raising that by just three degrees could avoid 17 million tons of emissions a year, and an 18-month study found most foods stay safe and tasty.
In a world where food waste is an ever-growing concern, a recent study offers a glimmer of hope. The research shows that raising the temperature of freezers from the standard -18°C to -15°C could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions without compromising the safety or quality of our food. The idea of cooling our freezers by just a few degrees has been a topic of discussion for years.
A 2024 report suggested that lowering the standard freezing temperature by just 3 degrees Celsius could save 17 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually.
To determine if freezing at warmer temperatures would negatively affect food quality, researchers from NPJ Science of Food conducted a study. They froze nine different types of frozen foods, including chicken, fish, salmon, vegetables, pizza, and plant-based meat balls, at temperatures of -18°C, -15°C, -12°C, and -9°C. The samples were thawed and evaluated each month for quality measures such as bacterial abundance, vitamin C content, fat degradation, and palatability.
The results showed that the higher temperatures did not cause significant increases in bacterial abundance, an indicator of food spoilage. While the quality of most foods did decline over time when stored at -15°C, the quality measures remained within acceptable limits until after the "use-by" date for most products. This date varies by product but is generally less than 18 months.
The study concluded that raising the standard food-freezing temperature from -18°C to -15°C is feasible and would reduce energy requirements for cooling by approximately 7 percent. This reduction in energy could be particularly beneficial for nations with limited electric grids, allowing them to reduce the burden on local energy sources like generators, solar, and wind turbines.
Additionally, with the help of new energy-efficient cooling technologies, the global food cold chain could expand to previously inaccessible areas. This expansion could help reduce food waste in local communities, improve the incomes of poor farmers, and allow their crops to reach distant markets without spoiling.
Written by urgent.news from Anthropocene Magazine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
