Operating temperatures of supermarket frozen retail display cabinets

摘要

Specially designed refrigerated retail display cabinets are used in shops throughout the world to display frozen foods. In order to maintain the quality of the frozen food in these cabinets' temperatures must be tightly controlled. Considering their importance, it is surprising that there is very little published data on how well frozen retail cabinets do this in practice. This study monitored temperatures in frozen retail display cabinets in four branches of a major UK supermarket chain, ranging from a medium size outlet to a large hypermarket. Two types of cabinet were monitored (1) combined frozen top doored and open bottom (well) cabinets (ISO classification RYF3) and (2) vertical frozen glass doored cabinets (ISO classification RVF4). The results showed that while cabinets may run at the required overall temperature(s), some frozen products in those cabinets can spend a substantial amount of time, up to 45%, above -12 degrees C, at sub-optimal temperatures. While this will have no effect on the safety of the food, it is likely to have a detrimental impact on quality and shelf-life. Overall temperature control was far better in the vertical frozen glass doored cabinet. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.