Frozen foods growing in popularity in UK and Australia
Frozen foods continue to grow in popularity in the UK and Australia.
The British Frozen Food Federation values the industry at just under 5.4 billion pounds, with a growth of 6.1% year on year.
The British Frozen Food Federation said that the frozen meat and poultry sector was leading the way as consumers ‘are switching to frozen meat and poultry from fresh as they try desperately to manage their diminishing household budgets.’
The details from British Frozen Food Federation March 2012 statistics show year-on-year volume growth has also been seen across the board with pizza at 2.6% year-on-year and savoury food, which includes frozen bread, frozen stuffing, cooked poultry, meat products and processed poultry, which has grown by 2.9% year-on-year.
Other leading value growth sectors are frozen potato products at 9.9%, vegetables at 6.8% and ice cream at 5.4%.
Datamonitor found similar trends in Australia, with frozen meats leading the frozen food market. Between 2004 – 2009 frozen foods grew at a compound annual growth rate of 2.6%.
The sustained growth in the frozen food market could be attributed to the growing consumer understanding that frozen can often equal fresh.
Australian Food News reported in 2010, Australia’s leading consumer advocacy group, CHOICE, undertook research that found frozen fresh food delivered comparatively better nutritional value than ‘fresh’ food which had been vacuum packed with carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and refrigerated for long periods of time.
“Spinach refrigerated for just eight days loses more than 50% of its key nutrients – so it’s important consumers look beyond appearances when buying fresh produce,” said CHOICE.
As in Australia, British Frozen Food Federation believes that the ‘growing understanding of the benefits of the locked in goodness of frozen’ will continue to drive the growth in frozen foods.
