Young’s, the UK leader in fish, is spearheading a drive to promote the benefits of frozen fish, particularly as a means to reduce food waste. This issue was highlighted earlier this month by Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who called for prudent eating in light of a study issued by the Cabinet Office which showed that families in the UK are throwing away 4.1 million tonnes of perfectly good food every year, costing each around £420 annually.

Frozen food and in particular, frozen fish, is perfectly poised to meet the needs of families today.

Recent market data shows that frozen seafood is benefiting from consumers’ reassessment of the frozen food category as a whole – reversing the image that frozen gained in the 1970s and 80s as mainly a place to find budget, lower quality food. The research shows people increasingly switching from chilled to frozen, particularly for fish ‘ingredients’ to cook with - such as prawns and fish fillets. The freezer is being reborn as the modern ‘larder’ to store good quality ingredients – and with less waste.

Now worth a whopping £753m, frozen seafood is the biggest and most buoyant sector of the whole frozen category – currently growing at 5%. In the last year, Young’s frozen fish, currently worth £176m, stormed to a 15% year on year increase with particularly strong sales in Prawns, Scampi and Fish Fingers. For the first time in recent memory the figures show that frozen fish has outpaced that of chilled.

Jim Cane, managing director of Young’s, says, “We’re very upbeat about the future of frozen. The market is showing consistent growth and the message is getting across about the intrinsic benefits of frozen as an entirely natural and sensible way to preserve the very best qualities of food. People are appreciating that frozen can be equally as good and natural as the chilled equivalent.”

Recent strong brand advertising for fish has also helped to turn around consumer perceptions of the frozen category, historically perceived as a budget and inferior alternative to chilled. The positioning of the frozen food aisle in-store and the presentation of the product are also contributing factors.

As Jim Cane says, “Frozen seafood is perfectly in tune with the consumer need for great food that is readily available, with less waste. The freezer is the perfect solution to preserving freshness and nutrition, particularly for ingredients people want to cook with like fish and vegetables. It’s also a better way to manage the supply chain from distant parts of the world – shipping frozen foods will become even important in the future as air-freight becomes less acceptable because of its environmental impact.”

Notes for editors:
Young’s is Britain’s most famous name in fish – building on a 200-year heritage and using both modern and traditional skills to produce a vast range of top quality frozen and chilled seafood. It is a pioneer in responsibly sourced seafood and a UK market leader in products made using Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accredited fish from sustainable sources. The company is based in Grimsby, and employs around 3000 people both in Grimsby and Scotland.

The Young’s frozen range spans speciality seafood, seafood meals (including Admiral’s Pies), battered fish (Chip Shop), coated fish, natural fish and a range of smoked fish.