What are the best commercial fridges for storing and preserving fresh meat?

As any experienced butcher, retailer or food business owner knows, proper storage for your meat is absolutely crucial.

It’s not just about keeping your produce fresh; it’s also about ensuring food safety and presenting your products in a way that makes customers want to buy.

The right meat display fridge does more than just keep things cold. It maintains the perfect balance of temperature, humidity and air circulation that keeps your meat at its peak quality. When you’re dealing with premium cuts that your customers trust you to handle properly, having reliable commercial refrigeration isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s essential for your business’s success.

But let’s be honest: choosing the right commercial fridge is a big decision. After all, you’re not just buying a piece of equipment; you’re investing in something that will directly impact your product quality, customer satisfaction and bottom line. This blog talks about what you should be looking for...

Different styles for different businesses

What is the best type of meat display fridge for your business? It depends on various factors. If you run a butcher’s shop, then you’ll probably need different types of commercial fridges for different areas of the shop. Customer-facing display fridges give your customers the chance to peruse your selection. Being able to see the different options available can trigger the customer into making an impulse purchase, or additional purchase to their regular shop. A display fridge, such as the Trimco Tavira II Curved can give you the ideal space to showcase your meat. However, you’ll also need other forms of storage to keep the rest of your stock fresh. Cold rooms are extremely popular with butchers. They give you excellent, useable space, with room for meat to be hung, as well as stored on suitable shelving. Cold rooms are a popular choice for many food businesses, such as the range of cold rooms that we stock here. You can easily store pre-packed meat, smaller joints or overflow from your display fridges in a solid-door commercial fridge, such as the Interlevin CAR1390. It’s clear that the best solution may not lie in one fridge, but in choosing different types of fridges to provide a complete refrigeration package for your business.

The importance of health and safety

While temperature control is important to keep all food fresh and maintain its quality, controlling the temperature of meat is critical. The danger zone for meat is between 5°C and 63°C, as this is when bacteria can grow. Raw meat should be stored between -2°C and +2°C, while cooked meats can typically be kept one degree higher. In general, butchers’ fridges are kept at around 2°C, and the temperature is checked every hour to ensure that the meat is being safely stored. It’s a legal requirement to keep your fridge at 8°C or below. However, when you consider the temperature at which bacteria can start to grow is 5°C, then common sense would dictate that your commercial meat fridge needs to be set at a lower temperature. Different types of meat need to be stored in different ways, which is another reason why having different types of fridges can be a bonus. Animal carcasses should be unwrapped and hung so that the air can circulate around them, with the temperature set at 1°C in a regular fridge and 3°C in a cold room. Meat cuts such as chops, steak and minced meat should be stored in covered containers between 2°C and 4°C.

Save money with an energy-efficient fridge

Whilst investing in a new commercial meat fridge can seem like an expensive purchase, it can also be expensive not to invest in one. Older fridges can be inefficient and expensive to run and maintain. An older fridge will have to work harder to keep a constant temperature and, consequently, will cost more on a daily basis. Modern fridges are vastly more energy efficient than their predecessors. This is in part caused by the changing energy rating scheme which reclassified old A++s as modern Bs or Cs, allowing scope for manufacturers to design more energy-efficient models. Remember that the cost of upgrading your refrigeration always needs to be balanced against the potential cost of your fridge breaking down.

Fridgesmart has a range of commercial fridges to suit you

Here at Fridgesmart, we’re here to help. We understand refrigeration and we understand business and can offer you support, guidance and advice to choose the best meat fridge for your business. Whether you are doing a total redesign of your space and want to invest in a series of different types of commercial fridges for different areas of your business, or you need an urgent like-for-like replacement, we’re here for you. Our extensive range of meat fridges will give you the variety to choose the ideal solution for your business needs. For advice on choosing the best commercial refrigerator for your business, call us today on 0115 9413640.