Fresh reports have emerged of ‘chaos’ as supermaket fridges and freezers broke down due to the heatwave this week, after experts have warned of equipment simply not being up to the extreme UK summer temperatures that are becoming more frequent.
As temperatures soared above 36°C in parts of the UK, chiller cabinets were bare in Tesco stores in Haslingden, Crew and Altrincham, The Mirror reported.
The Sun quoted a shopper post on X saying: “If anyone is desperate for M&S, do not go to High Wycombe Retail Park. All the fridges are offline.”
There were reports of problems in Wales, the Forest of Dean, Oxfordshire, Manchester and Birmingham, where one resident posted: “If you’re going to Sainsbury’s to buy chilled or frozen food, don’t bother. They’ve closed off all those sections.”
It follows a wave of similar failures in the May heatwave.
As the latest heatwave loomed last week, British Frozen Food Federation CEO Rupert Ashby warned supermarket fridges more than 15 to 20 were prone to fail.
“Older freezer systems are usually controlled by a remote compressor outside the building,” he told The Grocer. If that goes down, “then the freezers and fridges on the same system don’t work”.
“Newer-built stores with more flexible layouts and flooring are generally moving towards having individual ‘plug in’ units that work on their own,” he added.
Cold Chain Federation CEO Phil Pluck warned chilled warehouses could also start to fail if the extreme heat continued for more than four days.
He said over half of the UK’s 460 cold storage facilities for food and pharmacy were over 20 years old, “and so do not have either modern refrigeration plants or modern insulated walls and roofs”.
“Even modern facilities will come under pressure if air temperatures remain above the mid-30s for more than four days,” he said.
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