An observational study of refrigerator food storage by consumers in controlled conditions

Europeans and North Americans produce a total of 95-115 kg of annual food waste per capita, which corresponds to more than one-third of the total food production in these countries. One of the different assumptions presented in the literature is the food storage practices. With regards to food safety, poor and unhygienic handling as well as inappropriate storage conditions at the consumer level are critical issues. Consumers do not consider the nature of the food in the organization of the refrigerator. To investigate this assumption, a methodology was developed to study consumer behavior while placing food in the refrigerator. To approximate a home environment, the study was conducted in a test kitchen. Twenty consumers participated in the study. The experiments were filmed with different camera systems (four cameras fixed on the ceiling and one portable camera). The consumers were tasked with storing food from delivery bags in the refrigerator and in a kitchen closet. They also completed a questionnaire about their habits concerning food purchases and storage. This study reveals a wide diversity of behaviors for storing food in the refrigerator. The recommendations from the French Agriculture and Food Department are clearly not observed or even known. The main safety issues concern meats, ready-to-eat salads, and ready-made dough because they are sensitive to contamination with pathogens.