Campden BRI was recently challenged by Nomad Foods to help them solve an important issue: Can frozen food products be stored at a higher temperature (than the -18°C industry standard)?

The key issues were whether it was legal to do so, as well as ensuring that the food items remained safe and consistent in quality at higher temperatures. Furthermore, Campden BRI specialists sought to know if keeping frozen food at warmer temperatures may help reduce energy use, resulting in fewer GHG emissions and cost savings. If this is the case, the findings might have a significant influence on the frozen food business as a whole, helping to further decarbonization and sustainability goals.

“We brought together various disciplines from across our expert teams – regulatory, product innovation, microbiology, sensory, and nutrition – to support Nomad Foods with this venture,” the company’s engineers mentioned.

The initial stage of this thorough study was a regulatory review to see whether any regulations would restrict a deviation from the industry standard freezing temperature of -18°C. The regulatory mapping of both the UK and Europe provided Nomad Foods with the essential awareness of existing regulations and where temperature change might potentially occur shortly.

The next step was for Campden BRI to create research that would allow Nomad Foods to assess the influence of various freezing and storage temperatures on the safety and quality of their goods over time.

“The pilot study we devised used four freezing temperatures (ranging from -18°C up to -9°C), which were applied to a range of nine savory 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,” according to a recent press release.

Reducing Freezer’s Energy Consumption

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-month 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, and reduce energy costs and carbon footprint, whilst continuing to ensure safe, quality, nutritious food for consumers.

“Frozen food already compares very well to other preservation methods when it comes to overall carbon footprint. However, this study enables 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,” Georgios Tetradis-Mairis, Head of R&D Futures at Nomad Foods, said.

Regarding what’s to come, Campden BRI is currently discussing how to support Nomad Foods in disseminating their research to the larger frozen food industry, as well as how to monitor temperature throughout the entire supply chain for frozen food logistics, from initial production freezing to supermarket aisle freezers.