CFA Gets Behind Fridge Temperature Awareness Push

CFA is supporting WRAP’s Chill the Fridge Out campaign (16 October – 4 November) which aims to reduce food waste by raising consumer awareness of correct fridge temperatures. WRAP reports that £15 billion worth of edible food is binned by UK households every year, with incorrect storage being cited as a major cause of its waste.

Fridges need to be kept at 5°C max. Temperatures above this mean that food spoils quicker and gets thrown away earlier.

But WRAP’s research has revealed that half the population doesn’t know what temperature their fridge should be. Additionally, they found that the average domestic fridge is set to 7°C.

The campaign includes an online tool that demonstrates how to achieve the optimum chill temperature in 24 of the most popular fridge brands.

Kaarin Goodburn, CFA Director, explains the relevance: “Food waste is a major contributor to climate change. The UK’s chilled food sector has a long-standing commitment to reducing food waste. We are an early-adopter signatory to the UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap aiming to halve UK food waste by 2030.

We’ve also engaged with Government, WRAP and fridge manufacturers over many years regarding the imperative that appliances run at the correct temperature, so we’re delighted to support WRAP’s campaign “

CFA a UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap Early Adopter

Today (25 September 2018) the UK Food Waste Reduction Roadmap is launched, with CFA an Early Adopter signatory, committing to a landmark roadmap aiming to halve UK food waste by 2030.

The Roadmap encompasses the entire supply chain from field to fork, and clearly shows the actions large businesses will take to address food waste both in their own operations, and by working to support their suppliers. It also sets out how these businesses can engage with consumers to help reduce their food waste.

As a signatory of Courtauld 2025 and the UK Plastics Pact, CFA is delighted to play its role with other UK food trade bodies and businesses across the supply chain and Defra, Welsh and Scottish Governments to promote widespread adoption of Target, Measure, Act, which is vital to achieve national policy objectives and targets on food waste reduction.

The first major milestone on the Roadmap is for 50% of the UK’s largest 250 food businesses measuring, reporting and acting on food waste by September 2019, and all 250 companies doing so by 2026.

CFA is very pleased that its contribution to work on a standardised data collection template has come to fruition, and will play a key role in delivering the Roadmap.

The Food Waste Atlas is also launched today at the annual event of Champions 12.3. Atlas is the world’s first global reporting portal to allow the capture and reporting of global food loss and waste data in one place. Developed between WRAP and the World Resources Institute, Atlas allows companies and Governments to publish and compare their data with others, including businesses supporting the UK Roadmap.

CFA is proud of the UK chilled prepared food industry’s record in sustainability. We will continue to provide leadership in the sector, building on 15+ years of our industrywide activity including our Sustainability Aims, which relate to energy, water and waste encourage the industry to minimise its carbon footprint, and also incorporate ethics.

For free resources and find out more about the using the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap click here.

New publication: Guidelines for Setting Shelf Life of Chilled Foods in Relation to Non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum

Guidelines for Setting Shelf Life of Chilled Foods in Relation to Non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum

UK food industry and UK and Australian research organisations have produced this guidance, which is designed to ensure that sufficient information is provided by FBOs and laboratories to arrive at valid decisions regarding the shelf life of chilled foods in relation to non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum. The Guidelines are intended to also support FBOs when challenged by Competent Authorities.

The Guidelines summarise in an accessible way:

How Food Business Operators should establish shelf life in relation to non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum,
What needs to be considered and what actions need to be taken to determine whether challenge testing is appropriate before contacting a laboratory,
Global best laboratory practice in the design of challenge testing with non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum in order to give valid scientific data, and
How to use these data to establish safe shelf life with respect to non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum

Download PDF: Non-proteolytic Clostridium botulinum shelf life guidance – 1st Ed 9/7/18