A review of the performance of domestic refrigerators

Abstract This paper reviews the published data on the performance and use of domestic refrigerators throughout the world in the last 30 years. While there is considerable legislation defining maximum temperatures during the production, distribution and retailing of chilled food, as soon as the consumer purchases the food, it is outside of any of these legislative requirements. Inadequate domestic refrigeration or cooling is frequently cited as a possible factor in food poisoning incidents. It is clear from the many published surveys that many refrigerators throughout the world are running at higher than recommended temperatures. Since even these recommended temperatures are higher than the 0 to 1 °C that is usually the recommended temperature range for storing fish and seafood, meat and many chilled products the current situation is even more detrimental to maintaining the high quality life of chilled foods. Despite numerous surveys around the world, how refrigerator temperatures and cleanliness impacts on consumer health remains to be fully assessed.