Increasing storage temperature of frozen foods: effect on sustainability and food quality

Increasing storage temperature of frozen foods: effect on sustainability and food quality | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Increasing storage temperature of frozen foods: effect on sustainability and food quality Lorenza Serena, Henderika Maria Vollebregt, Marcel Meinders, Emma Hanby, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7004981/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract An extensive study has been performed to the effect of storage temperature and time on the quality of frozen foods to investigate to what extend freezing temperatures can be increased in the frozen food supply chain to increase sustainability by reducing energy use. Different commercial food categories and relevant quality indicators are studied as a function of storage time t s (up to 18 months) and set storage temperatures T s ( -18 o C, -15 o C, -12 o C , and -9 o C), as well as energy use of the freezers. Experimental data showed that an increase of 3 o C in storage temperature would save about 7% of energy. Furthermore, for a majority of quality attributes, including microbial, storage temperature could be increased from -18 o C to -15 o C, without the attribute exceeding the acceptance limit. Sensory properties show a clear trend with t s and T s and could be well modelled using a Weibull or Logistic model that allows defining combinations of storage temperature and best-before date for each product. For the majority of products the sensory quality attributes are within the acceptability limits before the used by dates when the products are stored at -15 o C. From this study it could be concluded that to increase sustainability in the frozen food supply chain by increasing storage temperature without a loss in food quality, the supply chain should be able to store different products at an increased temperature that is proven to be safe and retains product quality. Scientific community and society/Agriculture Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences frozen storage energy use food quality sustainability Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryData.pdf Supplementarydata.csv Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 28 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 28 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 22 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Aug, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 14 Aug, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 09 Jul, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 09 Jul, 2025 First submitted to journal 29 Jun, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7004981","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":503883626,"identity":"eeeb30df-a81e-4219-83a1-8196cb5e87aa","order_by":0,"name":"Lorenza Serena","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nomad Foods","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lorenza","middleName":"","lastName":"Serena","suffix":""},{"id":503883627,"identity":"4cf4cd7b-062b-4034-8d01-d6b4cbbc71fa","order_by":1,"name":"Henderika Maria 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