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Exploring opportunities to store frozen food at higher temperatures

10 May 2024

Nomad Foods challenged Campden BRI to help it answer the question of whether frozen food products can be safely stored at a higher temperature than the -18°C industry standard.

A key consideration for Nomad Foods, a frozen food company with a portfolio of leading frozen food brands, included whether it would be lawful to raise the storage temperature of frozen foods. It also needed to ensure that the food products would remain safe and of consistent quality if stored at higher temperatures. 

In addition, Campden BRI also wanted to find out whether storing frozen food at higher temperatures could facilitate a drop in energy consumption, leading to lower carbon emissions and cost savings. If so, the findings could have a profound impact on the frozen food industry as a whole, supporting decarbonisation and sustainability agendas throughout the frozen food sector.

Campden BRI brought together various disciplines from across its expert teams – regulatory, product innovation, microbiology, sensory and nutrition – to support Nomad Foods with this venture.

Regulatory review
The first stage of this project was to undertake a regulatory review, to confirm whether or not there was any laws that would prevent a departure from the industry standard freezing temperature of -18°C.

The regulatory mapping of both the UK and Europe provided Nomad Foods with the necessary understanding of relevant current legislation and where temperature change could feasibly happen in the more immediate future.

The next step was for Campden BRI to design a study that would allow Nomad Foods to test the impact of different freezing/storage temperatures on the safety and quality of its products over their shelf-life.

The pilot study used four freezing temperatures – ranging from -18°C up to -9°C – which were applied to a range of nine savoury products including poultry, coated fish, natural fish, vegetables, plant based and pizza. Through the analysis performed over the three-month storage time, the impacts on eight key areas were explored, including food safety, texture, nutrition, oxidative rancidity, drip loss, packaging, sensory and energy use.

Results
The study demonstrated that for every 3°C increase in temperature, there is a drop in freezer energy consumption of 10-11%. The results of the three-month pilot study indicated that increasing the frozen storage temperature by 3°C could reduce freezer energy consumption by more than 10% (compared to using -18°C), without compromising product safety or nutrition, or having any noticeable impact on the texture or taste.

The study has since been extended to cover the full 18 months shelf-life of a range of different products. If similar results continue, they may represent a huge opportunity for Nomad Foods – and possibly the entire frozen food industry – to adopt higher storage temperatures, reduce energy costs and carbon footprint, whilst continuing to ensure safe, quality, nutritious food for consumers.

Commenting on the project, Georgios Tetradis-Mairis, Head of R&D Futures at Nomad Foods, said: “Frozen food already compares very well to other preservation methods when it comes to overall carbon footprint. However, this study has enabled us to explore further improvements in energy consumption and carbon emissions when storing or transporting frozen products. It’s a very exciting opportunity and we look forward to continuing our research in this space with Campden BRI.”

In terms of next steps, Campden BRI is now in discussions to include temperature monitoring of the whole frozen food logistics supply chain – from initial production freezing through to supermarket aisle freezers – as well as how it can continue to support Nomad Foods in sharing its work with the wider frozen food industry.


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