Top chefs join WRD campaign
3rd May 2022
UK: Well-known chefs from around the world are backing a campaign to describe how cooling is necessary for their locally inspired cuisine in support of World Refrigeration Day.
Chefs4thePlanet, a group of over 100 top chefs concerned about our planet and our health, are partnering with the United Nations Environment Program OzonAction and the Global Food Cold Chain Council to explain cooling’s essential role in protecting human health and the planet.
The Cooling Keeps Food Fresh campaign will describe why cooling is necessary for food safety and how it supports nutritious diets that sustain our health, help reduce food loss and waste, and protect the environment.
The chef’s recipes will be accompanied by tips educating consumers on the cooling choices they can make in their home to save money, prolong the life of products, and understand how food waste and loss contribute to climate change.
This year’s World Refrigeration Day on June 26 takes the theme of Cooling Matters.
“Cooling is at the very heart of modern life. And the importance of cooling to the global food chain and sustaining human life on our planet cannot be overestimated,” said Steve Gill the founder of World Refrigeration Day.
During the Cooling Keeps Food Fresh campaign, chefs representing various regions of the world will deliver video messages, reinforcing their commitment to maintaining a planet sustainable for human life and describing how cooling contributes to day-to-day cooking and their kitchens’ operations.
“At a time when each day we increasingly exceed our planetary boundaries, and agriculture produces about a quarter of global greenhouse emissions, feeding ten billion people in 2050 is requiring the systemic transformation of our food system. Chefs as role models and influencers have a key role to play,” said Chefs4thePlanet co-president Anne Le More.
“Alternative proteins as well as seasonal, local and plant-based ingredients are becoming more and more important in gastronomy, and cooling will continue to be essential,” added fellow co-president Sebastien Ripari.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the contribution of food waste emissions to global warming is almost equivalent to global road transport emissions. If it were a country, food waste would be the third largest emitting country in the world. “Industry can facilitate the reduction of food waste and its negative environmental impact by promoting greater access to food preservation technology and promoting the development and utilisation of cost-effective, energy-efficient equipment with reduced environmental impact,” said Juergen Goeller, co-chair of the Global Food Cold Chain Council and director of regulatory affairs for Carrier Refrigeration.
