Reading, UK: The Cold Chain Federation has published a report demonstrating the critical importance of the cold chain to UK food supply, food safety and reducing food waste.
The report, The Cold Chain, details how the industry is integral to the food chain, from farm to fork. It shows the contribution that cold chain businesses make to the UK as a major employer, as a leader in technological innovation, and in tackling food waste and climate change.
The digest also looks at the industry’s progress on energy efficiency, and at the challenges and opportunities presented by Brexit.
Shane Brennan, chief executive, Cold Chain Federation said: “We work alongside our members day in and day out to make our industry’s voice heard, loud and clear at both national and regional levels. This new report is designed to help everyone gain a fuller appreciation of what the cold chain does and why it matters so much. Knowledge is crucial to ensuring politicians and policy makers give our industry’s concerns and ideas the weight they deserve.
“As the Cold Chain Federation takes the messages of our industry to Westminster and Whitehall, we are encouraging our members to use this new report to start a dialogue with their MPs and Local Enterprise Partnerships about why the cold chain matters to their local communities as well as to the nation as a whole.
“The theme of today’s World Refrigeration Day is the cold chain, so it is fitting that our new report showcases the value of our industry on this day of international interest.”
The report includes key information about the cold chain, such as:
• The coldchain employs more than 20,000 people in the UK, from warehouse operatives and drivers to systems analysts and robotics engineers.
• The UK frozen food industry is worth in excess of £8bn and the chilled food industry in excess of £11 billion.
• The Cold Chain Federation has 150 members, which operate more than 450 specialist storage facilities. This equates to around 3.5bn cubic metres of storage space.
• Federation members run more than 30,000 refrigerated trailers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, plus more than 40,000 refrigerated vans.
• Around 400 coldstore facilities are signed up to the coldstore Climate Change Agreement.
World Refrigeration Day takes place on 26 June every year to raise awareness and understanding of the significant role that the refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump industry and its technology play in modern life.
The organisers of the World Refrigeration Day 2020 ColdChain4Life campaign are the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), ASHRAE, European Partnership for Energy and Environment (EPEE), International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), and the WRD Secretariat.
