With Australian households wasting over 140,000 tonnes of meat a year, experts say there’s a growing need to understand how people are using, or not able to effectively use, their fridges to reduce meat waste.
The RMIT-led report, supported by Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre and Meat and Livestock Australia, combined existing research with new in-depth interviews and observations in 20 households during warmer and cooler seasons, revealing their shopping, eating, cooking and food storage practices.
The study also monitored fridge and freezer temperatures in 56 households.
Project lead and Research Fellow, Dr Bhavna Middha, said the findings should concern Australians making an effort to save food and meat from waste due to rising grocery prices.
The research found 17% of fridges monitored were warmer or cooler than the recommended range of 2-7°C.
“When food is too warm, bacteria multiply too fast. When food is too cold, it can freeze or get freezer burn. Both conditions lead to food spoiling,” said Middha, from the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies.
There were also inconsistent temperatures across different fridge shelves, going up to an average of 10°C and down to –1.1°C.
Almost half the freezers monitored had average temperatures outside of the optimal range.
Middha said the fluctuating temperatures could be attributed to how often the fridge was opened.
Households with children reported opening their fridge more often – even up to 20 times a day – possibly affecting the stability of fridge temperatures.
According to Food Standards Australia and New Zealand, potentially hazardous foods need to be kept at under 5°C to prevent food poisoning as these bacteria can multiply to dangerous levels between 5°C and 60°C.