The Move to -15°C Coalition, which is committed to assessing whether frozen food can be safely transported and stored at -15°C instead of the long-established -18°C industry standard, has announced the expansion of its global membership base.
The coalition has welcomed three new members, including Wayne-Sanderson Farms, Fayman & Sorbello Food Group and ChileCarne, strengthening its presence across both North and South America.
They join existing members include Aviko, Maersk, Lineage, DP World, IKEA and other firms involved in the manufacture, transport, storage, and retail of frozen food.
‘Growing body of evidence’
“We are building on a growing body of evidence around temperature optimisation and moving into the next phase: testing how those insights work in real-world operations,” commented Sandra Roling, managing director of the Move to -15°C Coalition.
“The addition of new members from across the Americas and the progress of our first operational pilots show growing industry commitment to understanding how temperature optimisation could support both sustainability goals and supply chain efficiency. Working with leading companies from across the frozen food supply chain, we are generating robust evidence that can inform future industry and regulatory discussions.”
The coalition was formed at COP28 in 2023, in response to research that suggests that increasing the standard frozen food temperature to -15°C could reduce energy consumption by between 5% and 7% across the global cold chain, as well as reducing emissions by as much as 17.7 million tonnes each year.
‘Important global initiative’
Dan Sorbello, managing director at new member Fayman USA Inc, said the coalition is an “important global initiative” tasked with testing ideas based on practical evidence.
“We are proud to join the Move to -15°C Coalition at a time when the frozen food world is looking for practical ways to empirically and analytically assess temperature management and the optimisation of the associated resources therein,” he said.
Elsewhere, Miguel Adasme Gutiérrez, head of industrial area at ChileCarne, said exporters have an important role to play in “building the scientific evidence and industry engagement needed to advance this initiative.” Read more here.
