The occasion is marked in a book, published this month, charting
the industry's history from the humble pea to futuristic technology beyond the
Millennium.
From its pre-history in 1917 when the original Clarence Birdseye
made a novel discovery on a fishing trip to Labrador, the industry's progress
highlights the effects of demographic trends and lifestyle during the post-war
years; through the swinging 60s; onto the birth of the consumer boom in the 80s
and the health conscious 90s.
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The industry emancipated a whole generation of women in
the 60s from the days when a good cook was exhorted to rise early to
complete their domestic chores before beginning the long and arduous
task of food preparation. It evolved, not because of brilliant
marketers, but through the simple process of freezing raw materials for
later use, such as seasonal fruit and vegetables and spasmodic fish
supplies.
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Nature itself paved the way for Clarence Birdseye's contribution
to frozen food when he discovered a quantity of fish left on the ice during a
previous excursion. They appeared to be in perfect condition and subsequent
cooking and eating confirmed it. The original commercially packed product, under
the Birds Eye label, (the divided name of the founder) appeared in 1929, and the
first retail-styled frozen food packs were launched in 1939.
During the War, UK development of frozen food simply stopped,
unlike in the States where vast quantities of produce were frozen for the war
effort.
After the War things began to change rapidly with the emergence
of a dominant middle class, and consumer power was born. The seminal frozen food
business set out to meet this challenge by moving with the times. The first
'documented' appearance of ready meals was in '53 in a meat & two vegetables
format. They remained as novelties until 'boil in the bag' products, piloted by
Birds Eye and Findus in the late 60s, first captured the public imagination with
anything resembling today's meals.
The 60's
Victorian values gave way to
the birth of convenience in the 60s and the emergence of new kinds
of frozen food. Peas provided the first booming product area and
everyone's favourite, chips took off when wholesalers saw the
opportunity of a year-round continuous supply of frozen chips.
The development of individually quick frozen
technology made it a liberator during this decade and frozen food
began to spread more rapidly with the birth of the marketing of
foods in branded packs which led to competition. This forced
manufacturers to become ever more sophisticated in their use of
marketing tools and the battle of the brand versus own-label
began.
The turkey market was revolutionised in the early
60s with Bernard Matthews transforming the birds from luxury
items, with breeding throughout the year and smaller birds for
Easter.
The 70's
In the 70s, foreign holidays
broadened British culinary tastes. Frozen foods responded by
giving families a widening range of recipes every day of the week
without the need to find the ingredients or special skills to cook
them. Findus launched the product of the decade - crispy pancakes.
During this time choice emerged, not simply between instantly
recognised brands, but a newer and cheaper alternative - the
retailers' own-label.
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The 70s reached £1billion annual sales
with room for even greater potential, driven by
development of ever more versatile 'value-added' products:
ready meals, pizza, coated and flavoured poultry, gateaux
and the McCain Oven Chip produced initially for its
convenience and later for its health benefits.
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The biggest impact by now was the microwave, which
unshackled new product development, and throughout the 70s a
continuous roll-out of new products broke new ground. And a
sea-change occurred with advances in freezing technology, which
provided easy access to a variety of seafood from around the
world.
The consumer market changed rapidly in the mid-70s
with the emphasis shifting from bulk frozen foods for economy to
small packs for convenience and variety. Against this background,
the British Frozen Food Federation was established with the
slogan: "You can be sure it's fresh...if it's frozen".
Consumer Age
The challenge for the industry
in the 80s was to meet the needs of a public desperate to consume
but with little time to do so. As the decade dawned, supermarkets
began to shape the future with their own-labels. Marks &
Spencer set the pace with St Michael. Catering was also being
revolutionized to meet the demands of national restaurant chains.
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The 80s were also renowned for massive
product innovation with TV ads for new ideas in snack
foods, potato products, pizzas, pancakes, waffles, poultry
convenience foods, and endless ranges of traditional and
ethnic recipe dishes. And chilled foods were launched.
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Healthy eating came onto the agenda with products
like Findus' Lean Cuisine and calorie counted ready meals in
microwave packaging. McCain boosted the profile of its pioneering
Oven Chips in 1988 with Sunflower Oil.
Labelling, product information and E numbers
became a major issue. And the wok combined with the microwave as
Ross created ethnic recipe ready meals with a wide range of
stir-fry products.
As the 90s took shape, so did a brand new era of
environment, health, and ecology-consciousness, promising a
watershed for frozen food in the new Millennium. A new generation
of calorie - counted and fat - reduced convenience foods, snacks
and novelty products, aimed at children, followed.
The anniversary book concludes that the industry's
most important technological development ever is indisputably the
freezing process by which food can be individually quick frozen,
for easy handling and storage.
And looking into the crystal ball beyond the
Millennium, looms an exciting development. this is in the field of
intelligent packaging, with frozen foods linked directly to white
goods. This will allow freezers, with an on-board computer, to
detect when products are removed and to prompt consumers to
restock!
Frozen Morsels
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Research this year by the
Frozen Food Information Service revealed that many people
would be willing to trade their partner before their freezer.
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The first TV chef was Phillip Harben, who
cooked frozen nephrops tails - later known as scampi - on
his show in 1953.
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The battle of the fish finger was fought in
'54 with Eskimo Frozen Foods versus Birds Eye.
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In the 40's frozen food was known more
genteelly as frosted. This term is still used in Harrods
today.
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Harrods was probably the first to stock an
own-label product with Frozen Fish & Chips in 1964.
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The first radio debate on whether frozen
foods were here to stay was on Women's Hour in 1949. Forty
years later it was still being discussed on the BBC Food and
Drink programme.
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The Financial Times' women's editor was the
first newspaper correspondent to extol the convenience and
novelty of traditionally quick frozen fish in 1963.
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Birds Eye became the second biggest food TV
advertiser in 1963 after Kellogg's with a spend of £500k in
the first half of that year.
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Bread is considered by consumers as the most
useful food stored in home freezers.
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Bernard Matthews became one of the biggest
household names in 1980 with the launch of the Turkey Breast
Roast.
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UK frozen food spending by 2000 is expected
to reach £4.7 billion.
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The first frozen ethnic dishes: curries,
lasagne, and chilli - made their debut in the 70s.
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The 90 minute pea is frozen and packed
within an hour and a half from the vine.
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All the freezing process does is to turn
water inside food into ice-crystals, which are retained
within its cell structure. It's the most natural form of
preservation possible.
Order your copy now for £38
inc P&P.
Click HERE
for the application form.
