FROZEN FOOD

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29718, 11 January 1962, Page 2

FROZEN FOOD

Bid To Increase British Sales (Special Crspdt. N.Z.PA.) LONDON, January 10. British firms are engaging in big advertising and other publicity campaigns in an effort to persuade housewives to buy more frozen food. Last year, it is estimated, Britons bought about £57 million worth of frozen goods or 1 per cent, of the total retail food market. This is still a long way behind the United States, where the frozen foods share of the market is five times larger. Sales are growing by a fifth each year. In Britain, the most successful frozen food has been green peas followed by fish. Meat has a very small share of the quick frozen market—about 2 per cent, compared with America’s 22 per cent. The “Daily Herald” says two factors at present restrict sales of frozen foods in Britain. One is that special cabinets in many smaller retailers’ shops are not big enough to stock the increasing number of brands and lines. The second is that although one British home in four has a refrigerator, the ice-making compartment in most models is not cold enough to keep frozen food in good condition for more than a few days. As a result most housewives must use frozen foods spon after they are bought and thus cannot build up any stock. The ice compartments in some of the newer, smaller refrigerators, however, can now reach a temperature low enough to keep frozen foods up. to three months.