Apart from the intensive nature of food processing and the packaging of the final products, the storage of food before and after the processing phases also can contribute to environmental pollution. This is even more true in today’s world where our food choices, either voluntarily or involuntarily, have shifted towards more processed and longer storable food products, including frozen foods. We have also come to expect the food shelves in our retailers to be fully loaded with more perishable goods all year round as well. These changes have placed more emphasis on the food manufacturers to provide the best quality food, often overlooking the environmental concerns.
One of the main challenges manufacturers face is the natural realities of food production, including the geographic and temporal limitations of where and when certain types of food can grow (Wakeland, Cholette and Venkat, 2011). This applies specifically to fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products, but also applies for some meat products as they have restricted growth cycles and areas of cultivation. However, given the demand for these goods all year round would mean the need to use a long-term storage facility, which is likely to require climate control. This has resulted in many storage facilities utilising energy-intensive heating or cooling machinery, that relies on high usage of electricity or direct combustion, to keep the food products in optimal conditions. For example, storage of carrots and the resultant refrigeration to ensure year-round supply constituted about 60% of all of the carrots’ carbon emissions (Carlsson-Kanyama, 1998). Hence, using such heavy-demanding refrigerants and combustions like boilers releases greenhouse gases, indirectly or directly, and contributes to air pollution and climate change. Garnett (2007) found that about 3% to 3.5% of the United Kingdom’s greenhouse gases emissions are accounted for by the refrigeration required by food products.
Moreover, not only does the operation of refrigerators directly or indirectly create greenhouse gases, refrigeration itself also can become a source of greenhouse gases due to the leakage of refrigerant gases. In older refrigeration systems, the most common refrigerant fluid is hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) which have a very high global warming potential (ibid.). Additionally, it also leads to the ozone layer depletion. Fortunately, the chemical has been effectively phased out by the legislation following the Montreal Protocol, which led to recent alternatives like ammonia and carbon dioxide. However, it is not a call for celebrations, as poor management can also lead to these gases being released locally and contributing to local air pollution and health concerns. This is because of the severe eye and respiratory irritation one experiences in the presence of high concentrations of ammonia (Teo, 2016). Looking at home, this is evidently showcased during the 2018 incident involving a leak in a food distribution company (Lam, 2018).
In our present food industry, storage and refrigeration play a huge role and feature in almost every stage of the food process. Hence, we ought to be more aware of the problems that they pose and try to minimise the pollution from these sources. Another feature that refrigeration plays a huge role in is during the transportation of the food products from these processing plants to the shelves of our retailers. Stay tuned to the next post to see how pollution from transportation of food might be more than what you may think!
Trailing off,
Jade and Ridzuan
References
Carlsson-Kanyama, A. (1998). Climate change and dietary choices — how can emissions of greenhouse gases from food consumption be reduced? Food Policy, [online] 23(3–4), pp.277–293. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306919298000372 [Accessed 17 Sep. 2020].
Garnett, T. (2007). Food Refrigeration: What is the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and how might emission be reduced? [online] Available at: https://fcrn.org.uk/sites/default/files/Refrigeration_paper_2007.pdf. [Accessed 17 Sep. 2020].
Lam, L. (2018). Ammonia leak at Jurong food factory’s chiller room, 4 taken to hospital. [online] The Straits Times. Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ammonia-leak-in-food-factory-at-fishery-port-road-3-taken-to-hospital [Accessed 17 Sep. 2020].
Teo, A. (2016). Food Canning Waste in Industrial Processes. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301693328_Food_Canning_Waste_in_Industrial_Processes [Accessed 17 Sep. 2020].
Wakeland, W., Cholette, S. and Venkat, K. (2011). Food transportation issues and reducing carbon footprint. Food Engineering Series, [online] pp.211–236. Available at: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-1587-9_9#Sec2_9 [Accessed 17 Sep. 2020].
