Assessing a range of carbon emissions, from post-harvest or slaughter to consumption by the consumer, researchers found that a frozen meal for a family of four produced 5% less CO2 than its identical chilled counterpart.
As a result of this, researchers believe that frozen could contribute towards reducing the CO2 output of the food industry in the future.
Conducted by Refrigeration Developments and Testing Ltd (based in Bristol, UK), the Carbon Emissions from Chilled and Frozen Cold Chains report calculated the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) for a typical UK Sunday roast meal for four people. An analysis of the emissions from chicken, peas, carrots and roast potato ‘cold chains’ from over 40 academic papers was carried out, comparing the following energy sources:
Emissions from all sources considered in the study calculated that a chilled meal for four people was equivalent to 6.546kg CO2e compared to a frozen meal for four at only 6.329kg CO2e.
Across all of food types tested, all but one frozen product had lower CO2e than their chilled counterpart.
“This report goes some way to debunking the commonly held assumption that producing, storing and consuming frozen food is more energy intensive than chilled products,” said Judith Evans, fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration and lead researcher on the study. “A thorough and rigorous review of the scientific evidence found, within the boundaries considered, frozen to be less CO2 intensive, especially when considering carbon dioxide produced from waste.”
Source: British Frozen Food Federation
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