The foodservice industry is being urged to turn to frozen fruit and vegetables to prevent waste and save money, as it re-evaluates its position in the recession.
The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) is launching a new campaign that aims to educate the foodservice sector on how it can profit from using frozen food in the face of the financial climate.
The campaign, Profiting from Frozen Food, is set to challenge the ‘fresh is best’ outlook, suggesting that nutrient retention and reduced waste through longer shelf life creates a healthy and more environment-friendly alternative.
Brian Young, director general of the BFFF, told freshinfo: “One of the important things for consumers and in corporate social responsibility terms is to try to minimise waste - frozen food offers an opportunity to reduce these levels with a shelf life of up to two years. We look to projects such as Love Food, Hate Waste and support their work.
“Buying frozen will save money because of competitive and stable food prices, the ability to control portion sizes and wastage, and the opportunity to cut kitchen labour costs. This will help businesses reduce their overheads, produce more accurate pricing models and protect their profits.”
A number of activities are planned as part of the Profiting from Frozen Food campaign, including food quality research, a frozen food report, food tastings, cookery demonstrations and cost comparison research conducted by the University of Manchester, comparing frozen and fresh products.
The BFFF suggests that produce such as spinach can lose up to 70 per cent of its vitamin C content in two days, while frozen product retains this.
Young said: “The taste and nutritional credentials of frozen food are also better than ever. Being a natural process, there is no need for preservatives found in chilled, ambient or ‘fresh’ - so frozen is often closer to our perception of ‘natural’ food. In addition, freezing locks in nutrients at the point where food is harvested for maximum nutrition and freshness.”
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