Food spoilage and financial loss during extreme heat events due to refrigeration failures

During heatwaves, supermarket and household refrigeration systems fail or struggle to maintain safe temperatures, causing perishable food to spoil rapidly. Consumers and retailers face unexpected financial losses from discarded inventory, while also dealing with food safety risks and the stress of uncertainty about which products are still safe to consume. Current solutions (manual temperature checks, emergency cooling) are reactive and insufficient during widespread infrastructure strain.