“Fridge spaces” or the art of decorating your fridge. The TikTok trend that’s alerting health professionals

We have a few flowers, Mediterranean blue striped vases, two or three vintage frames, candles and other knick-knacks in your fridge. If the season calls for it, we’ll add Santa pumpkins or figurines for Halloween or year-end celebrations. Here’s the new trendrefrigerator design “(“fridge” for the refrigerator and “escape» escape), which consists of decorating the inside of your refrigerator or, in Marcel Duchamp’s ready fashion, deviating from the main purpose of your household appliance.

But while fans of this phenomenon on TikTok compete in ingenuity to highlight the merits of this practice; its aesthetic will make you want to cook more, health and environmental experts warn. Storing items in your refrigerator actually creates risks, first for us and then for the planet.

Bacteria feast

First of all, hygiene, because the “refrigerators”, as they call themselves, put food next to all kinds of trinkets, which are not necessarily cleaned well. For example, it is difficult for eggs in wicker baskets to avoid dust particles, thus leading to the risk of self-contamination. “By planting plants, we can introduce bacteria such as Listeria, Escherichia coli or even parasites. It’s dangerous,” explained Stéphanie Chevalier, food hygiene consultant and founder of SCL Qualité, in the column. 20 minutes. The same goes for picture frames or vases, she says, which often contain toxic paints and chemicals. “In a closed environment like a refrigerator, air circulates, which homogenizes the temperature, but also circulates germs. That’s why it’s not a good idea,” he insisted to the daily.

Another hygiene issue is the decorative containers where meat and dairy products are now placed. As reported Health magazine These foods require “strict storage in their original packaging,” airtight meat, and marked expiration dates, limiting the risks of food poisoning to householders.

The issue of eco-responsibility

Finally, the trend upsets environmentalists and ecologists. “I’m alarmed to see that this trend is pushing people to have huge refrigerators to fit very little,” adds Coralie Wasser, a decorator and interior designer who specializes in eco-responsibility. 20 minutes. And added: “These refrigerators consume energy for a volume that does not meet the actual requirements. It is impossible to follow this trend ethically and responsibly.”

First used in 2011 by American Cathy Perdue, a design consultant in California, the term “refrigerator space” offered an alternative to “table design” or the art of creating dazzling and inventive dining tables. “The idea is to tell yourself that every time you open your refrigerator, and we do this several times a day, you’re bound to come across something beautiful,” he explained, as the American says. in the website article. Food and wine . The expert, however, placed more emphasis on storage than on vases and vintage objects. Therefore, the trend has evolved significantly over the past thirteen years.