Freezing time, freezing in time

Reconfiguring freezing practices for reducing meat waste and energy consumption

Bibliographic Data

ID13143972
AuthorsBhavna Middha (0000-0001-6501-6124, RMIT University, corresponding author), Nooshin Torabi (0000-0002-5834-4477, RMIT University), Cecily Maller (0000-0001-8322-2124, RMIT University), Simon Lockrey (0000-0001-9814-4114, RMIT University), Peter Stasinopoulos (0000-0002-1770-0383, RMIT University), Nirajan Shiwakoti (0000-0003-1082-1200, RMIT University)
Year2024
Volume4
Issue2
Pages192-212
Publication date2024-10-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueConsumption and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2752-8499 • E-ISSN: 2752-8499
PublisherBristol University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1332/27528499y2024d000000038
OpenAlexW4403756015
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited38

Considering that many fresh food items require domestic cold storage, understanding the role of appliances such as freezers is critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions relating to domestic food waste and energy use. Using a social practices approach, this article reports on a study of cold storage and food waste practices, particularly freezing relating to meat, in 20 Australian households. Householders were interviewed twice, over winter and summer, 2022–2023. We studied intersecting practices of eating, shopping, cooking and cold storage, and their connection to larger social phenomena such as cold supply chains to gain insights into how and why meat was wasted. Although we set out to study household practices, we found that retailer practices of pricing specials and bulk buying must also be considered. Retailer practices combined with ambiguity in consumer understandings of date labels, shelf life and freezing times mean that domestic cold storage has become a normalised extension of the cold supply chain of food, especially for meat. We argue that understandings such as convenience and thriftiness, in conjunction with retailer expectations of domestic cold storage, may lead to the ratcheting up of household freezer use for food storage. We illustrate through our findings that this may potentially increase energy consumption and accelerate food waste, which becomes particularly problematic for carbon-intensive foods such as red meat. In innovatively reimagining domestic cold storage as an extension of industrial and retailer cold supply chains, we explore what kind of capabilities may be required for an equitable and low waste cold supply chain that reduces reliance on household freezers

Biology · Business · Consumption (sociology · Energy consumption · Sociology · Waste management · Engineering · Environmental Science · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Ecology

Tools

Open DOI