Nomad Foods study backs storing frozen food at -15°C to cut energy use by 7%
Nomad Foods has published peer-reviewed research showing frozen food can be stored safely at -15°C rather than the industry standard of -18°C, cutting cold storage energy consumption by about 7%.
THE STUDY, Increasing storage temperature of frozen foods: effect on sustainability and food quality, appears in npj Science of Food, a Nature portfolio journal. It ran for 18 months, covering nine frozen food categories and more than 20,000 quality measurements.
For most products tested, storage at -15°C kept food safety, quality, nutritional value and shelf life within accepted limits. The findings strengthen the case for a more sustainable approach to frozen storage and distribution across temperature-controlled supply chains.
In June 2024, Nomad Foods became the first food manufacturer to join The Move to -15°C coalition, a global initiative to cut carbon emissions in the frozen food supply chain.
“Our findings demonstrate that it is possible to reduce energy consumption across the cold chain while maintaining the safety and quality consumers expect from frozen food,” said Neil Fletcher, general counsel at Nomad Foods and board member of the coalition.
