Six ways to overcome frozen food’s ‘image problem’

Canning argued that frozen food fared much worse in Britain, compared with neighbouring countries such as France,where shoppers saw it as fresh, healthy and good quality.

“I recognise that frozen food has a serious image problem in this country,”​ Canning told a forum at Food Matters Live last month. “Otherwise people would already be using frozen food as a nutritious, affordable and healthy to eat.”​ 

‘Quality and value’​

He said frozen food not offered good quality and value for money, but it also allowed for a large range of choice and reduced household waste.

“Freezing is nature’s pause button. It allows us to lock in nutrients, everything good about a product,”​ he said.

“Value is the one you all know. Value is the one you associate with frozen food. But it’s true.”​

In terms of the health benefits, he highlighted the evidence that freezing chicken greatly reduced the risk of food poisoning bug campylobacter.

‘Easily transported’ from abroad​

From a global perspective, he said freezing products meant they could easily be transported from other countries, such as Iceland’s pizzas from Italy.

“It’s an ancient technology freezing and for all those reasons, that’s why I think it has a really big part to play in providing this nation with nourishing healthy and affordable food,”​ he concluded.

Earlier this year frozen food firm Iglo Group and the Waste & Resources Action Programme carried out a campaign to educate consumers how freezing food could reduce household waste.