The United Nations Environment Program OzonAction, Chefs4thePlanet, and the Global Food Cold Chain Council are partnering to celebrate World Refrigeration Day this weekend 26 June, 2022.
Together they will explain cooling’s essential role in protecting human health and the planet.
The Cooling Keeps Food Fresh campaign will describe why cooling is necessary for food safety and how it supports nutritious diets that sustain our health, helps to reduce food loss and waste, and protect the environment.
Leading chefs from around the world have signed on to the campaign.
They will describe how cooling is necessary for their locally inspired cuisine. The chef’s recipes will be accompanied by tips educating consumers on the cooling choices they can make in their home to save money, prolong the life of products, and understand how food waste and loss contribute to climate change.
Bacteria exist everywhere in nature. They are in the soil, air, water, and in the foods we eat. In favourable temperatures, they grow rapidly, increasing in numbers to the point where some types of bacteria found in food can cause illness.
Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 4.4 and 60 °C (40 and 140 °F), the "Danger Zone," some doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. But the cooling provided by refrigerators in our homes and restaurants slows bacterial growth, thereby keeping foods safe after they are brought home from the market or stored after preparation.
The contributions of cooling to our health and the environment extend much further, however. Freezing allows fruits and vegetables to be picked at peak ripeness, often frozen within hours, locking in nutrients and flavour. And cooling reduces one of the largest contributors to climate change, the emission of greenhouse gases from food that is lost due to spoilage and waste.
Reducing food loss would both feed greater numbers of undernourished people and advance climate protection. In addition, the wise selection and operation of cooling technology contributes significantly to protection of ozone layer and climate change combat.
“Cooling matters. And keeping food safe is one example of that,” according to Steve Gill the founder of World Refrigeration Day.
Cooling Matters is the theme of this year’s celebrations.
“Cooling is at the very heart of modern life. And the importance of cooling to the global food chain and sustaining human life on our planet cannot be overestimated,” Gill said.
Cooling’s significance is sometimes taken for granted by governments, end-users, and the public, according to Jim Curlin of UNEP’s OzonAction Law Division.
“Cooling makes so many important contributions to our society, with direct connections to lives, livelihoods, health, nutrition and environmental protection,” he said.
“Besides its main purpose of keeping food fresh and safe to eat, your refrigerator can also be an agent of change to help solve environmental challenges such as preserving Earth’s ozone layer, fighting climate change, and promoting energy efficiency.
“The refrigerator-freezer in your house or your favourite restaurant is a superstar that has a huge impact far beyond the kitchen. The Cooling Keeps Food Fresh campaign seeks to motivate the public to learn about the myriad benefits of cooling.”
To learn more about World Refrigeration Day “Cooling Keeps Food Fresh,” visit www.worldrefrigerationday.org or contact coolingfood@worldrefrigerationday.org