Food cold chain
The food and drink industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK. The environmental impact of the sector is huge, accounting for 190 million m3 of water per year, 12MT of food waste, 24% of anthropogenic carbon emission and 28% of UK road freight by tonnage.Food refrigeration is estimated to be responsible for 2-4% of the UKs total GHG emissions.
In 2019 the UK became the first major economy to pass laws to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. This is a highly challenging target as although the UK has reduced emissions by 42% compared to the 1990 baseline, much of this has been achieved my moving manufacturing abroad. Nevertheless, moving the UK to zero carbon emissions by 2050 is still challenging. Even with the very best technologies and operational practices to reduce emissions, the UK is going to need substantial development and investment in technologies/schemes to offset the remaining carbon emitted.
“Please accept my thanks and gratitude for a thoroughly excellent job”
- Client, Anon
RD&T work throughout the food cold chain from harvest/slaughter to consumption. We provide services which include:
- Energy reduction and auditing
- Design and optimisation of refrigeration systems
- Temperature monitoring and control
- Process optimisation
- Modelling of heat transfer
- Modelling of air flow (CFD)
- Testing and validation of equipment
- Technical expert witness and legal issues
For further information please contact Judith Evans (j.a.evans@rdandt.co.uk).