What aspects of a fridge most affect the quality/taste of food?

What aspects of a fridge most affect the quality/taste of food? - Woman in White Sweater Baking Cake

I am buying a refrigerator. Aside from the usual non-culinary criteria (size, style, energy efficiency, cost), are there particular features/designs that will affect the taste of my refrigerated cooking ingredients (meat, seafood, produce, dairy, eggs, etc)?

For example:

  • Since various ingredients are optimally preserved in different conditions (temperature/humidity/light), are there fridges that make it easier, e.g. by having different compartments?
  • Is it important to have different compartments to prevent ingredients from interacting with each other?

Are any of these a major consideration for you when shopping for a fridge?



Best Answer

There are a number of other threads here with some bearing on this question, including:

What is the ideal fridge temperature

Can food spoil at cold temperatures?

How important is isolating food in a fridge?

Does having spoiling food in your fridge cause other food to spoil faster?

What we can glean from all of these is that temperature control is critical, and can vary between different models. You want a refrigerator that can reliably maintain a consistent temperature without wide temperature spikes, and you probably want a relatively low differential between different parts of the box (so that, for instance, items in the bottom compartment don't freeze while items on the top shelf spoil). Different compartments can help in isolating foods from one another, but they would be especially valuable if their temperature and humidity could can be independently adjusted to allow for minute control.

Also, keeping your fridge clean is important, so that mold, bacteria, and so on can't collect and spoil your fresh new produce; thus you want a model that can be readily disassembled and scrubbed. Easily removable shelves, compartments, and so on would be beneficial, and they should be made from easy-to-clean plastics or glass with minimal texture. At the same time, these need to be sturdy and adjustable, so that you can thaw that 20-pound turkey without having to sacrifice too much other space or breaking a shelf.

Speaking as not just a chef, but as a home bartender, I also want adjustable space inside the door(s) so that I can store a variety of differently-sized bottles upright. But that's more for convenience and efficient storage than it is about taste or quality.




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How does refrigeration affect food?

The fundamental reason for having a refrigerator is to keep food cold. Cold temperatures help food stay fresh longer. The basic idea behind refrigeration is to slow down the activity of bacteria (which all food contains) so that it takes longer for the bacteria to spoil the food.

What determines the best placement of food in a refrigerator?

How to Store Food in a Fridge:
  • Top and middle shelf. Ready-to-eat foods, such as dairy products, ready meals and packaged foods, leftovers, cooked meats and prepared salads. ...
  • Bottom shelf. Raw meat, poultry and fish in sealed containers to stop them touching or dripping onto other foods. ...
  • Salad drawer.


What are the requirements of food refrigeration?

The temperature in a refrigerator should be 40 \xb0F or below throughout the unit, so that any place is safe for storage of any food. Raw meat, poultry, and seafood should be in a sealed container or wrapped securely to prevent raw juices from contaminating other foods.

What humidity should my refrigerator?

Ideally, refrigerator humidity will stay at levels between 30% and 50%.



Fresh or frozen food? Using SCIENCE to prove which is best with surprising results! - BBC




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