Impact of FDA Code on Open Display Case
 In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that supermarkets lower the core temperature of certain refrigerated foods from 45oF to 41oF. The intention of the code is to reduce the transmission of food-borne diseases for meat, dairy, deli, fish, poultry, and cut produce. This seemingly small temperature change is actually significant because supermarkets operate on a narrow profit margin, meaning that increased energy costs can directly impact their competitiveness.
Southern California Edison (SCE) conducted a test project to quantify the impact of the FDA temperature requirements on power use and performance of an open, multi-deck, medium-temperature, deli/dairy display case.
SCE performed this test at its state-of-the-art Refrigeration Technology and Test Center (RTTC) located in Irwindale. The test was conducted in a controlled environment maintained at 75oF and 50 percent relative humidity.
What resulted is a possible 31 percent increase in compressor power consumption and a 15 percent increase in the display case cooling load. The RTTC testing revealed that the variation of product temperature between the top and bottom shelves may cause a problem with targeting and maintaining a uniform product temperature to comply with the FDA requirements.
SCE engineers also determined that the product temperatures should be lowered below the FDA's requirement, so that by the end of the defrost cycle, the product does not exceed the allowable temperature limits. However, under this condition, some under- or over-cooling of the products may occur that could adversely impact the quality, safety and shelf life of the products.
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