International. Research indicated that frozen foods are responsible for fewer CO2 emissions than refrigerated foods.
A new scientific report from Refrigeration Developments and Testing calculates the carbon dioxide equivalent for a typical roast beef meal for four people, based on carbon emissions from post-harvest/slaughter-to-consumption foods. The researchers found that such a frozen meal produced just over 3% less CO2 than its refrigerated counterpart.
More than 40 academic papers were referenced to determine "cold chain" emissions data in chicken, peas, carrots and roast potatoes. The report studies emissions from waste, refrigerants, processing, storage, transport and internal retail, storage and cooking.
Emissions from all sources considered in the study calculate that a refrigerated meal for four people was equivalent to 6,546kg CO2e compared to a frozen meal that generates 6,329kg CO2e. Across all types of food tested, all but chicken (1486kg CO2e per cold compared to 1626 for frozen) had lower CO2e than its cold counterpart.
