A survey was carried out in France from April to June 1999. Temperatures were recorded at three levels (top, middle and bottom) of the refrigerator compartment using a data logger. A questionnaire was filled in, enabling the following information to be obtained: characteristics of the family, characteristics of the refrigerator and the use conditions. One hundred and forty-three domestic refrigerators were surveyed, but due to various technical problems, only 119 sets of recorded temperatures were exploitable. The temperatures of the surveyed refrigerators were: average 6.6 C, minimum 0.9 C and maximum 11.4 C. Statistical analysis such as clustering and segmentation were used. It was found that the heterogeneousness of temperature inside each refrigerator seems to be dependent on the type. This study shows the influence of the use conditions on the temperature. No one factor exerts a single direct effect; a combination of the effects of all factors is observed. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved. C (minimum 0.9 C et maximum 11.4 C). Des analyses statistiques telles que l'arbre de classification et de segmentation ont e´te´utilise´es. L'e´tude a montre´que l'he´te´roge´ne´ite´de tempe´rature dans le compartiment d'un re´frige´r-ateur de´pend du type de re´frige´rateur. L'influence des conditions d'utilisation sont mises en e´vidence. Le niveau de tempe´rature des re´frige´rateurs est le re´sultat de nombreuses interactions entre les diffe´rents parame`tres et non d'un seul des parame`tres en particulier. #

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

A Web-enabled survey was conducted to improve knowledge of home refrigeration practices of French consumers (n = 809), with an emphasis on hygiene, and this information was used to establish recommendations. The survey targeted a convenience sample of working people. Analysis of the survey responses revealed that efforts should be directed toward improvement of microbiological control measures. Only 37% of respondents made sure the temperature in their refrigerator was 4 degrees C or below. Only 37% of respondents reported that they systematically wrapped food. Sponges, known to be frequently highly contaminated, were used by 89% of the respondents to clean their refrigerator, which indicates the need to recommend disinfection of sponges before they are used for cleaning. Twenty-seven percent of respondents used sodium hypochlorite (bleach), but it was applied without previous cleaning (21% of the users) or in the commercial concentrated form (7% of the users). The permanent presence of water condensation on the shelves was noted by 2% of respondents, suggesting imperfect closure of the door, with a consequence of higher energy consumption and water available for microbial circulation and growth. Thus, an important recommendation is to check the door gaskets and to ensure the tight closure of the door. Seventy percent of the respondents declared that they never put warm or hot food in the refrigerator. However, many people, when orally questioned, acknowledged that they leave dishes at ambient temperature overnight before putting them in the refrigerator. It therefore is essential to recommend that perishable food not be left for more than 2 h at ambient temperature.

No abstract

No abstract

In the food safety domain, the respect of the cold chain is of prime importance. The present paper presents an original method to monitor the food cold chain of everyday refrigerated food products sold in self service counters of supermarkets and hypermarkets in France. The proposed method consists in dissimulating a small temperature recorder inside the food product at the end of the production line and to send this product, equipped with the concealed device yet undistinguishable from any other, throughout the supply chains. At the end of the cold chain, the consumer who discovers the recorder is invited to send it back to the laboratory. Three types of products were chosen depending on their recommended conservation temperature, their shape and the logistic circuit they were likely to follow. 480 recorders have sent. A return rate of 65% allows the observation of the complete thermal history observed in 314 food products, representing a sum of more than 3 800 recording days. The results are presented in a qualitative form (degrees of compliance / non compliance of the recommended temperature) as well as a quantitative form (average temperature and residence time of the products in the different links of the cold chain) over the entire cold chain, and for each link of the cold chain. The results indicate that ¾ of the food product are conserved in good / very good temperature conditions, and that 3% of the observations dramatically exceed the recommendations, especially at the last stages of the cold chain.