Refrigeration for better food and a better future

This year’s World Food Day 2025, celebrated on 16 October 2025 under the theme “Hand-in-Hand for Better Food and a Better Future,” serves as a call to collective action and a reminder that food quality is a shared global concern. The occasion also marks the 80th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is organising a global campaign to promote evidence-based, country-led partnerships aimed at transforming agri-food systems and strengthening food security worldwide. Hundreds of events have been taking place under the theme.

 

According to the IIR, 12% of global food production is lost annually due to lack of refrigeration, an amount sufficient to feed one billion people every year ^[1]. Through chilling or freezing of food products, the cold chain guarantees food safety and the preservation of food quality. According to UNECE, temperature control is one of the most important factors for retaining product quality during distribution. It increases shelf life by affecting respiration rate and thereby the ageing of the fruit and vegetables. Shelf life is highly influenced by temperature deviations during transport and storage. Products must be stored and displayed at their appropriate, product-specific temperature to retain the visible quality, the keeping quality and the nutritional quality, and to reduce waste ^[2].

 

Food quality standards

 

The food quality of products is safeguarded by establishing and meeting food standards which have notably been defined and described by the Codex Alimentarius, led by a commission gathering 188 member countries. The IIR has been serving as an observer to the Codex Alimentarius Commission for several decades.

 

Aside from the overarching General Principles of Food Hygiene (CXC 1-1969), the Code of Hygienic Practice for Refrigerated Packaged Foods with Extended Shelf Life (CXC 46-1999) and the Code of Practice for the Processing and Handling of Quick-Frozen Foods (CXC 8-1976) set recommendations for the preparation, processing, packaging, handling, storage, and distribution specific to refrigerated and frozen food products.

These guidelines are complemented by several Codex standards, such as the standards on quick frozen fish uneviscerated and eviscerated (CXS 36-1981) or on quick frozen vegetables (CXS 320-2015). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) also offers frozen food quality standards such as ISO 17648 on quick-frozen coated aquatic products.

 

These international guidelines and standards are then implemented at a national level through governmental agencies and national standardisation bodies.

 

IIR resources on food quality

 

Committed to disseminating knowledge on refrigeration, the IIR provides reference publications on refrigerated and frozen food products.

The IIR has published and updated its “red book” Recommendations for the Processing and Handling of Frozen Products since 1964 and its “blue book” Recommendations for Chilled Storage of Perishable Products since 1959.

 

The IIR is planning to release the latest edition of its guide Recommendations for Chilled Storage of Perishable Products in 2026. This guide is intended to provide practical, user-oriented guidance to engineers, researchers, technicians, companies and other organisations involved in chilled food management.

 

 

Sources

[1] Baha M., Hammami S., Dupont J.-L. The Role of Refrigeration in the Global Economy 3rd edition, 60^th IIR Technical Brief on Refrigeration Technologies. International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.18462/iir.TechBrief.04.2025

[2] United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. (2019). Code of Good Practice: Reducing food loss in handling fruit and vegetables. Geneva: UNECE. Retrieved from https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/CodeOfGoodPractice.pdf