Briefs: Higher temperatures for frozen foods?

The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) has recently begun talks with the Food ministry, in order to support slightly higher temperature levels for storage of frozen foods. Current food safety regulations state that frozen foods must be stored at a maximum of -18°C. BFFF is seeking to raise this threshold to -15°C considering that such low temperatures are not justified by scientific research, as microbial growth stops at -5 to -6°C and quality is generally maintained at -12°C, with the exception of ice cream, which requires -15°C. A temperature rise of 3°C would represent huge energy savings. In order to provide data, studies on the entire cold chain are being performed by four companies.