Food waste is a major problem and therefore measures are needed to reduce it. Since expired best-before
date is a frequently cited cause of food waste in supermarkets, prolonging shelf life could reduce food
waste. Longer shelf life could be achieved in different ways, e.g. reduced storage temperature. However,
there is limited knowledge regarding the extent to which longer shelf life actually leads to reduced food
waste, and whether the benefits of reduced waste exceed the increased energy costs of maintaining
reduced storage temperature. Therefore this study calculated the net effect of reducing food waste in
supermarkets by reducing the storage temperature through simulating the relationships between food
waste reduction, longer shelf life, reduced storage temperature and increased energy costs.
Acase study was performedusing three years of data oncheese, dairy, deli andmeat product waste insix
Swedishsupermarkets,together withpublished data onmicrobiological growthat differenttemperatures
and on the energy requirement for cold storage at different temperatures. Food waste was found to be
reduced with lower storage temperature for all food products tested. This measure gave increasing net
savings in terms of money and greenhouse gas emissions for meat products with decreasing storage
temperature. Deli products had net savings close to zero, while for dairy and cheese products there were
net losses, since the costs of reducing storage temperature exceeded the potential savings. Therefore,
reducing storage temperature has the potential to reduce waste, but at a total net cost. However, a net
benefit can be achieved if the measure is only introduced for products with high relative waste, low
turnover and high value per unit mass.