An ambitious international research project is challenging one of the most enduring standards in the global food industry: the legally mandated freezing temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius.
The project, known as FROSTEQ—short for “An initiative aimed at harmonizing Temperature, Energy, Quality and Safety in the Frozen Food Supply Chain”—has been launched under the leadership of Wageningen Food & Biobased Research at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Its goal is to determine whether raising the standard freezing temperature could reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, all without compromising food safety or quality.
Funded by the Dutch government, the four-year initiative runs from 2025 to 2029 and includes a wide network of private partners across the global frozen food chain, from manufacturers and logistics firms to appliance makers and trade organizations. Among the participants are several members of Germany’s Frozen Food Institute (dti), including Apetito AG, Bofrost Dienstleistungs GmbH & Co. KG, Coldsense Technologies GmbH, Conditorei Coppenrath & Wiese KG, Dr. August Oetker Nahrungsmittel KG, and Salomon FoodWorld GmbH.
“A more sustainable food industry is a major global challenge for the future,” said Sabine Eichner, Managing Director of the dti. “The frozen food industry has been optimizing its value chain at all levels for many years towards greater sustainability and climate protection. But in the face of climate change, traditional practices must be questioned. A possible increase in the legally required freezer temperature could offer a great opportunity to significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. One thing is clear: a possible new temperature standard must apply to the entire international supply chain.”
Andreas Bosselmann, project manager at dti and a food chemist who formerly headed international quality management at Bofrost, echoed that sentiment. “The FROSTEQ project offers us the unique opportunity to check the legally prescribed frozen temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius in the entire frozen food chain from a product quality and sustainability point of view,” he said. “We see the effects of an increase in the freezer temperature under real conditions across the entire value chain as an opportunity. Our top priority is the high quality and safety of our frozen products.”
The current global standard for frozen storage and transport—minus 18 degrees Celsius, or zero degrees Fahrenheit—has been in place for more than a century, dating back to the invention of industrial blast freezing. The rule is codified in the “Ordinance on Frozen Foodstuffs” (TLMV), which stipulates that this temperature must be maintained throughout the supply chain, with only brief exceptions during loading or unloading. In Germany and the European Union, permanent deviations from this temperature are not allowed for safety reasons.
Some companies have already begun exploring whether that standard can safely be adjusted. Nomad Foods, the parent company of Iglo Deutschland and a dti board member, conducted tests with its scientific partner Campden BRI on nine frozen products stored at minus 15 degrees Celsius. The 2024 study found no significant changes in quality or safety, while energy use fell by about 10 percent. Those findings have fueled growing interest across the global frozen food industry and helped pave the way for a broader scientific investigation like FROSTEQ.
The FROSTEQ consortium will now evaluate which temperature levels can ensure product safety and quality while improving energy efficiency. Its research spans the entire frozen food category and supply chain, applying rigorous scientific methods and combining industrial expertise with consumer studies.
By uniting researchers, producers, and policymakers, FROSTEQ aims to make a measurable contribution to climate protection and sustainability while driving informed decision-making across the sector. The dti is coordinating its efforts with the International Frozen Food Network (IFFN), which brings together leading industry organizations such as the dti, the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), and the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF).
If the findings are positive, the project could lead to one of the most significant regulatory shifts in frozen food logistics in over a century—one that could make the cold chain a little warmer, and the planet a little cooler.
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