Two-fifths of consumers have their fridge set at the wrong temperature, according to a new study that highlights key areas of concern around consumer knowledge and behaviour in fridge and food safety.
“What stood out was that only a few people had thermometers in their fridges and that would be a fairly easy step for people to take,” says Dr Tassos Koidis, Lecturer in Food Science at the School of Biological Sciences in Queen’s University Belfast. He is lead author of A study of domestic fridges on the island of Ireland: Temperature control, design and consumer practices.
One-third of consumers surveyed did not know how to adjust their fridge settings to achieve the recommended safe range of 0 to 5°C. More than half reported never checking the fridge temperature.
The study found 40 per cent of fridges had an operating temperature above the range recommended to prevent food poisoning and only 6 percent of fridges had a fridge thermometer.
“We surveyed 100 households across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland,” says Tassos. “We went through a questionnaire with them and then evaluated their fridges.”
Tassos found that consumers remain confused about the meaning of “use by” (which is principally about safety) and “best before” (which is principally about quality). This has implications for food safety as well as unnecessary generation of food waste.
Three-quarters of consumers knew to store raw meat and poultry on the bottom shelves of the fridge, but were less clear on the importance of organising fridge contents to prevent cross contamination between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
Consumers were also uncertain about how long high-risk foods can safely be kept at room temperature before becoming unsafe to eat.
Fridge thermometers should be promoted to consumers as best practice for assessing fridge temperature, perhaps given out with each new fridge sold, and manufacturers should be encouraged to include LED thermometer displays, according to the report.
Comments