NEW TARGETS FOR CALORIE REDUCTION

Posted on September 14, 2020January 7, 2026 by Sarah Collison

New Targets for Calorie Reduction

Public Health England (PHE) issued last week the long-awaited targets for calorie reduction across a range of 12 product categories.

The targets are broadly similar for both Retail and Food Service in 6 of the categories where they see a common category across both channels. They have then given another 6 categories which are for ‘in home’ consumption.

Members can access the targets by following this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calorie-reduction-guidelines-for-the-food-industry

PHE advise they will produce progress reports in 2022 and 2024 with a final report in 2025.

If any member wishes to discuss or seek guidance from the Federation, then please contact us. We are also happy to feed any concerns or comments back to PHE.

We will also be discussing this topic during our next Technical Expert Group meeting in October, so please feel free to send deniserion@bfff.co.uk any points you wish to raise by the end of September, should you wish them to be included.

NEW TARGETS FOR SALT REDUCTION

Posted on September 14, 2020January 7, 2026 by Sarah Collison

New Targets for Salt Reduction

Public Health England (PHE) last week issued new targets for salt reduction across 28 broad product categories, which are then split into 83 subcategories, 7 of which are new since the 2017 targets. The targets vary by category with some not moving.

They have also split some categories out, such as pizza, which now has 2 targets – one for cured meat topped products and a lower target for other toppings.

The targets are set to be met by 2024 with reporting on progress in 2022. Members can find the targets by following this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/salt-reduction-targets-for-2024

If any member wishes to discuss concerns about the targets, then please contact the Federation as we are happy to communicate your concerns or observations to PHE.

New UK Internal Market Bill laid before Parliament

Posted on September 14, 2020January 7, 2026 by Sarah Collison

New UK Internal Market Bill laid before Parliament

On 9th September a new Bill, the “UK Internal Market Bill”, had its first reading in Parliament. The aim of the Bill is to protect jobs and guarantee that companies across the UK can trade unhindered after the transition period ends and EU regulation falls away, whilst maintaining our world-leading high standards for consumers, workers, food, animal welfare and the environment.

From 1 January 2021, rules that have regulated how each home nation trades with each other over the past 45 years will fall away and powers in a range of policy areas previously exercised at an EU level will flow directly to the devolved administrations in Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont for the first time. This will give the devolved legislatures power over more issues than they have ever had before, including over air quality, energy efficiency of buildings and elements of employment law, without removing any of their current powers. Without urgent legislation to preserve the status quo of seamless internal trade, rules and regulations set in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland could create new barriers to trade between different parts of the UK, unnecessary red tape for business and additional costs for consumers.

The Bill will create an open, fair, and competitive market across the UK, ensuring regulations from one part of the country will be recognised in another. Each devolved administration will still be able to set their own standards as they do now, while also being able to benefit from the trade of businesses based anywhere in the UK. The rules in this bill will also bind the UK Government when acting on behalf of England in areas of devolved competence.

It will also enable the UK Government to provide financial assistance to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland with new powers to spend taxpayers’ money previously administered by the EU.

It also outlines limited and reasonable steps to ensure that the government is always able to deliver on its commitments to the people of Northern Ireland.

The UK Government has laid out plans to establish an independent monitoring body, the Office for the Internal Market (OIM), to support the smooth running of trade within the United Kingdom. The body will sit within the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and provide independent, technical advice to parliament and the devolved administrations on regulation that may damage the UK’s internal market.

A pdf of the UK Internal Market Bill can be downloaded here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2775

HOW TO RETAIN THE NEWLY ACQUIRED CONSUMERS IN FROZEN FOOD

Posted on September 10, 2020September 23, 2020 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

The recent change in consumption habits has created a context within which consumers have re-evaluated their relationship with the freezer. There has been an increase in household penetration and adoption of frozen foods, which is creating a fundamental reappraisal and a unique platform for continued growth. The resilience of frozen food has been reinforced as consumers have sought the familiar, the trust and psychological safety of many of the brands and staple foods that the category offers. In addition, consumers have broadened and deepened their usage – for example the number of lunch occasions using frozen has massively increased.

But how best as an industry can we take advantage and double down on this reappraisal and increased trial of the category?

Firstly, it’s about getting the basics right. With the huge surge in purchase in e-commerce and engagement in digital media, for example, there are several steps manufacturers can take to be prepared for the future commercial landscape. Organisation reappraisal is key – are the right resources and investments in the organisation directed to the new consumer and channel reality? Is there the right level of support and talent in the e-commerce team, for example, or digital marketing team – and are you working with the best possible external partners?

From an e-commerce perspective, applying the same rigour to category management as you do instore is critical through the ‘brilliant basics’; ensuring the right descriptors, layout and taxonomy of your range, and optimising product content to drive visibility through organic search and navigation. With more people staying at and eating at home, there has been a surge in consumers looking for ideas and inspiration from brands. At Birds Eye, we’ve seen a 28% increase in website traffic, with the demand for recipe ideas and tips on frozen being a key driver. Making sure your website content is up to date, easy to navigate and accessible is critical in order to make the consumer journey enjoyable and seamless.

It’s also important to re-appraise the role of different media within the communications mix. The category has attracted a younger audience during lockdown, and we need to be conscious that this demographic has a different media preference to the older consumers who have traditionally bought into frozen, mainly in digital channels. These channels offer greater flexibility for brands and the barriers to entry are lower.

Once these foundations are in place, you have the platform to get creative and imaginative on how to inspire consumers and deploy the broad arsenal of technological tools to target them and persuade them to come back. Within e-commerce the possibilities are broad given the lack of physical barriers encountered instore. Tactics such as brand partnerships which drive cross sell from other high penetration categories; engaging shoppers through recipe videos and using online specific targeting methods such as couponing can all play a role in retaining consumers and stimulating repeat purchase.

The landscape is evolving and will continue to do so – keeping in check and adapting your resources and plans accordingly is critical if we want to continue the resurgence of the frozen food category.

Take a look at Steve Challoumas latest Webinar Wednesday with the BFFF where he dives deeper into the online channel for Frozen during COVID 19 – Watch

HOW FROZEN ONLINE HAS CHANGED OVER COVID-19

Posted on September 7, 2020September 23, 2020 by Harry

How Frozen online has changed

over COVID-19

The changes in consumer habits during COVID-19 have been well documented in terms of the impact on in-home meals. With the nation’s children eating at home and the shutdown in foodservice and offices, there was a significant increase in home meal occasions.

Collectively, these changes have had a remarkable and continued impact on sales in our category. Still in July as things gradually settle, the market grew an astonishing 17% in value sales. Down from the lockdown peak of 38%, but still an incredible growth rate – and a fertile context within which consumers have reappraised the role of frozen in their households. Some claim they are discovering new exciting frozen food, others being reminded of their love for frozen foods, and others praising frozen food as a creativity enabler. Allied to this, we have seen a surge in the sales of freezers of around 60%, which will lead to higher ongoing capacity at home in the long run.

From a channel perspective, the changes have been no less dramatic, in particular in the proportion of sales going through online shopping. Pre Covid-19, the channel was predicted to grow +43.8% between 2019-2024, with online participation set to increase by 1.7ppts to 7.7% of total grocery sales. However, in the second week of lockdown, online share hit a new record at 7.9%, 0.2ppts ahead of where it had been predicted to be in 2024 already.

In Frozen, this has been even more accentuated: pre-pandemic 9.5% of frozen sales went through e-commerce, rising to 10.4% in the last 12 weeks. Frozen performs very well in e-commerce, given the removal of barriers that would normally be met instore.

This surge in channel demand was generated by both a rise in the number of shoppers using online and a significant increase also in basket spend. Initially, this was challenging for retailers, who didn’t have the capacity to fulfil orders and had to take steps to constrain demand. Indeed, 43% of consumers claim they would have shopped online but the delivery date was far away or unavailable. It is estimated that the share of sales could have accelerated even further to around 10% if the capacity was there. Retailers are working hard to increase their ongoing capacity, with slots available expected to double by the year-end.

Over half of the online shoppers in April were new to the channel in the past year. Although we’ve seen growth across all life stages, the most significant growth in E-commerce has been driven primarily by retirees, with +6.3ppts more retirees shopping online vs. a year ago. It’s predicted that most of these new shoppers are here to stay, with only 26% claiming they will return to pre-lockdown shopping habits, and 55% planning to continue shopping online.

Given the strength of frozen foods in this channel, there is a massive opportunity to double down and leverage the huge growth opportunity – it is critical that manufacturers have strong plans in place to retain the new online shopper.

Take a look at Steve Challoumas latest Webinar Wednesday with the BFFF where he dives deeper into the online channel for Frozen during COVID 19 – Watch

Why Foodservice Professionals are choosing frozen

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Neesha Ramsingh-Cleary

Why Foodservice Professionals are choosing frozen

Frozen food has seen a big rise in popularity over the last few months with Kantar and the British Frozen Food Federation reporting that sales increased by £285 million. This shows the stigma around frozen food being inferior to fresh and chilled has become a thing of the past, which is largely down to the frozen food industry offering innovative, quality products. This is backed up by further statistics showing frozen has in increased in value by 6.1% while fresh and chilled only by 5%.

While these stats are great and show a shift in public opinion they don’t answer the question of why people are choosing frozen. So this is where we as frozen food specialists come in to tell you why and how the foodservice industry can continue to thrive with frozen.

Reducing food waste – the impact of food waste has been a very hot topic recently and for good reason, a reported 4.5 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK. Frozen is a great way for businesses to reduce waste, they can simply take what they need from the freezer when orders come in. Richard Harrow, Chief Executive of the British Frozen Food Federation told us ‘The risk of future lockdowns make ordering stock a challenge and increase the chance of food waste. Foodservice business can address these issues by stocking up on long-lasting frozen products’.

Quick cook from frozen – Preparing your own batter, buying the ingredients for the marinade and marinating the chicken overnight are just a few of the extra processes needed when preparing fresh. We have heard from many of our customers who have tried and failed to prepare their own fried chicken with the quality and consistency varying drastically. With Meadow Vale’s quality assured lines quality is guaranteed through our tried and tested methods

No raw poultry on site – We have heard many horror stories of customers being served raw chicken, a restaurant owner’s worst nightmare. This and the potential of cross contamination are great reasons to use fully cooked, frozen chicken.

These are just a few reasons why more and more people are choosing frozen over fresh.

The proof is in the taste, see our complete range of products where you can request free samples and live demo’s with our Chef to see how versatile and delicious our products are.

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