Critical Research Needed to Examine the Environmental Impacts of Expanded Refrigeration on the Food System

Abstract

The unbroken global refrigerated supply chain, or cold chain, is rapidly expanding in developing countries. In addition to increasing the energy intensity of the food system, the expanded cold chain may facilitate changes in the global diet, food waste patterns, food production and distribution, and shopping habits. The sustainability impacts of many of these changes chain are unknown, given the complexity of interacting social, economic, and technical factors. The current literature surrounding the environmental impacts of refrigeration in the food system focuses on the direct impacts of energy use and coolant emissions, and lacks a critical evaluation of the accompanying systemic societal changes that potentially carry greater environmental impacts. This review examines the cold chain as a transformative technology, identifying key intrinsic, indirect, and external factors that will favorably, unfavorably, or ambiguously impact the environmental profile of the food system. The review identifies key interactions and feedbacks between the cold chain, food production and consumption decisions, infrastructure development, and the global environment which are largely unexamined and in need of empirical data. Viewing cold chain expansion from this broader perspective is essential to understanding the changing impacts of the food system in developing countries and may inform future sustainability planning.

Climate change mitigation beyond agriculture: a review of food system opportunities and implications

“…Demand side changes (e.g., demand for processed foods, frozen foods, out of season produce, etc.) could drive further growth in emissions from food transport and processing (Heard and Miller, 2016) Consumption Dietary shifts toward livestock breeds and crop varieties suited to likely future climates; pre-emptive shifts will encourage efficiency gains (Rippke et al, 2016) Dietary shifts toward less GHG-intensive animal products and/or plant-based foods could significantly influence the agricultural industry. Given that one billion people globally rely on livestock and their complementary industries for their livelihoods (FAO, 2011b), this has significant implications for global incomes and employment.…”

“…Household storage and utilization A 2008 estimate placed the total number of domestic refrigerators worldwide at about one billion, twice as many as 12 yr prior (Coulomb, 2008). The expansion of the cold chain into developing economies certainly means increased energy consumption at the consumer stages of the food system, but its net impact on GHG emissions for food systems as a whole is complex and uncertain (Heard and Miller, 2016). Estimates suggest that household refrigeration represents upwards of 17% of the total energy used by the US food system (Heller and Keoleian, 2003); appliance efficiency gains have been countered by growing refrigerator size and increased prevalence of second refrigerators (Kim et al, 2006).…”

“…The addition of household refrigeration in developing economy food systems has the potential to decrease spoilage, improve food safety, diversify food choices and may lead to reduced food waste while improving nutritional outcomes. But it can also have indirect effects such as increased access, and likely greater consumption, of meat, dairy and prepackaged or frozen ready-made foods; shifts to larger, supermarket-style shopping patterns; and may in fact result in greater food waste if changes in consumer purchasing patterns facilitate overbuying (Heard and Miller, 2016). As Heard and Miller discuss, the balance of these factors on food system environmental impacts is challenging to assess and requires further study and evaluation.…”

Bacillus spore germination at moderate high pressure: A review on underlying mechanisms, influencing factors, and its comparison with nutrient germination

“…The first approach requires high thermal loads, which adversely affect the food quality attributes, such as vitamin content, color, and taste. The latter approach retains the food quality attributes but has other downsides, for example, cooling chains are a logistical challenge and environmental burden and acidification and lowering of the water activity is not possible for every food product (Heard & Miller, 2016). The development of a mild and an effective spore inactivation technology, which retains the food quality attributes and improves food safety, is a more sustainable long‐term solution for the food processing industry.…”

Quantifying Direct and Indirect Spatial Food–Energy–Water (FEW) Nexus in China

“…However, it also faces serious environmental problems associated with FEW resources, − resulting in an urgent need to solve FEW-related problems. Most existing studies focus on the nexus between two of the resources, such as the nexus between food and water, − water and energy, − and food and energy. − Studies on the food–water nexus in China have quantified the water footprints related to food losses and wastes, , and the loss of water resources related to food wastes was more than 10% of total water uses in China. Meanwhile, critical issues for highly efficient agricultural water utilization to ensure food security have been identified through a case analysis .…”