Top of the frozen food tree

01-Jul-2012 - Last updated on 13-Mar-2017 at 18:58 GMT

Hard discounter Aldi took the top prize for Retail Product of the Year, while McCain Foods won Catering Product of the Year at this year's British Frozen Food Federation's (BFFF's) Gala Dinner held in London last month.

Aldi UK won for its 'Northern Catch Select' Large Salmon Wellington with a Cheese & Dill Sauce. Other retailer Gold winners included Iceland, Asda, Morrisons, plus producers Freiberger UK and R&R Ice Cream.

BFFF director general Brian Young said: "Aldi has created a real humdinger of a product It retails at £3.99 and offers fabulous value for consumers wanting luxury at an affordable price."

According to data from Kantar Worldpanel for the year to March 18 2012, the frozen retail market is growing by 6.1% year-on-year in value terms while the fish market is growing by 4.1%. The fish sector is now worth over £750M and has enjoyed consistent growth for the last five quarters.

"It is no surprise with the inventive and innovative products we are seeing from the likes of Aldi, the leading retailer brands Birds Eye and Young's," said Young.

McCain Foods (GB) won Catering Product of the Year for its 'McCain Signatures' Gastro Chips. It is described as a gastro-chunky chip having a hand-made appearance. This enables operators to offer hand-cut style chips with limited resource requirements and no waste. Other catering Gold winners included Bar & Restaurant Foods, Creative Foods, 3663, KK Fine Foods and Delice de France.

Overall, the foodservice market is now worth £2.3bn.

The frozen food market overall is enjoying value and volume growth of between 12% year-on-year in a market that is worth £5.1bn.