Celebrating the Star of Your Home and Favourite Restaurant: The Refrigerator-Freezer
June 24, 2022 – TORONTO ON: In recognition of this year’s World Refrigeration Day (June 26) sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program OzonAction, Chefs4thePlanet and Global Food Cold Food Chain Council, the HVACR Heritage Centre is highlighting the essential role cooling and refrigeration play in the global food chain and protecting human health and the environment.
“Cooling is necessary in so many aspects of modern life – it enhances food safety and helps to minimize food loss and waste thus reducing our environmental footprint,” notes Craig MacDonald, HVACR President. “Cooling and refrigeration have been instrumental in Canada’s growth and prosperity – and keeping food safe, moving and accessible is a great example of the impact cooling and refrigeration technology have made.”
Bacteria exist everywhere in nature – 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), some doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. But the cooling provided by refrigerators-freezers 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 and refrigeration 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.