In part one of our interview with Aaron Dixon, executive chef at top ten food company Moy Park, he discussed where he finds inspiration for new dishes and the process taken to develop a new product.

Here’s part two of our chat with him:

How do you identify which food trends aren’t going to last very long and which food trends will work well for your customers?

There’s so much data and insight available nowadays that we can be fairly confident right way whether something will work or not. The classic mainstay cuisines such as Chinese, Indian and Mexican will always be popular and the retailers also give us guidance on the trends they are seeing grow in popularity, which helps.

It’s a team effort, every element of the development and sale needs to work, from the product itself to packaging, marketing and even where it is placed on the shelf can be the difference between a product that flies off the shelves and one that doesn’t move.

Timing is part of it, definitely. I’ve learned to slow down a little in my approach to putting new cuisines of the shelf, sometimes the market just isn’t ready. But there’s rarely an idea that doesn’t make the next step to the consumer. Even if some of our ideas are ‘banked’ for another day, they will always be worth revisiting when the time is right, development work is always taken forward at some point.

Can you go into a bit of detail about how new recipes are chosen?

Each customer tends to have a different process, some ask us to send the product to them ‘blind’ to home cook themselves, some ask for a paper concept and we take them through the stages of our vision. It’s rare that we just create one product, we tend to develop the whole range, for example a BBQ grill range for one customer.

Consumers are becoming more complicated in the tastes which challenges us to stretch ourselves and see how we can reach these expectations. At Moy Park we’re definitely not ones to rest on our laurels and keep rolling out the same ranges, we adapt and innovate every year.

What’s your favourite product that you’ve developed and why?

There’s been so many over the years but we recently developed a product for the Moy Park brand, which performs very well in Northern Ireland. The product was a multi-award winning, first to market, no-touch, cook-in-the-bag whole chicken.

A unique piece of packaging was developed allowing the chicken to go straight-to-oven, producing an incredibly succulent bird which won six industry awards. This product is held in high regard with me as it really was a whole team effort and a really clever piece of work that showed off the innovation we do here at Moy Park and created a truly quality product.

Another proud moment was the development of a chicken escalope—style product for a major retailer. It was an incredibly simple product but became a market benchmark, with other retailers coming to us asking for something similar and even in different protein variants such as pork. Seeing our product lead the market in this way and influence other big retailers was really satisfying.

Have you ever developed a product that you thought would work be really popular and wasn’t?

One product which I thought was excellent and had outstanding feedback from taste tests was a Christmas product from last year. It was a turkey joint with a ‘magic’ stock. The stock was in a ‘stained glass window’ gelatine panel with pink peppercorns, cinnamon and candied orange inside it, which when placed on the turkey for the final part of cooking, melted into a beautiful jus leaving the herb elements on top of the turkey creating a stunning centre piece.

It was incredibly innovative and first to market, but we find Christmas to be quite a safe time as no one wants to risk Christmas dinner (!) so it just didn’t seem to take off, which was a real shame.

What are the benefits you find from working with frozen?

The main thing about frozen food development is that the process is no different to that of fresh. Everything we produce is about vibrancy, freshness, colour and making products that really stand out on shelf or in the freezer. The beauty of frozen is that the herbs and spices retain their vibrancy due to the freezing process and keep their flavour extremely well.

I’m a big fan of frozen and have watched its evolution in the last few years as the quality has only increased and is now on par with fresh. Consumers are definitely not downgrading when it comes to frozen and it just adds a convenience that fits into people’s changing lives really easily. Families can grab something healthy and tasty from the fridge in that same way that single person households can benefit from portion control and quick and easy options.

Innovation is evident across the frozen food industry and is starting to influence us in some of the decisions we make with our fresh lines. Particularly in packaging, frozen is ahead of fresh and formats such as steam bags will no doubt be seen in fresh lines in the future.

We need to look at frozen retailers in particular as they are without a doubt more innovative and can offer the fresh sector some lessons on creativity with their almost artisan approach. There’s definitely much more to come.

For more information on defrosting turkey, check out our guide on how to defrost turkey.

Find out more about Aaron and his team, as well as helpful recipes at moyparkchicken.com.

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British Frozen Food Federation recently commissioned a piece of research undertaken by Cranfield University into the role of frozen food in UK food security.

Their infographic shows the financial and environmental benefits that switching from fresh to frozen can have – for example,each household in the UK loses an estimated £470 each year to food waste. Read on to find out how what else affects you and the rest of the UK.

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Almost 10% people admit to finding items older than two years in their freezer according to our research.

In the final post in our ‘Make Friends with Your Freezer’ series, we look at how many shoppers admit to finding old or unidentifiable foods in their freezer.

By looking after your freezer properly, you can avoid wasting this food and eat what you already have, in order ready to stock up again with new frozen products.

When we asked shoppers what the oldest thing was they’d ever found in their freezer, the answers astounded us – particularly the one person who admitted to still owning chicken nuggets bought in 1993!

However, amongst the five year old pastry and six year old garlic bread there were some shoppers who said they implement a rotation system in their freezer to ensure they regularly use and replace their frozen food and don’t end up with Tupperware filled with unidentifiable meals years down the line.

By rotating your frozen food and putting new products towards the back of your freezer and bringing older ones to the front, you can eat your food in order and keep a track of what you have meaning your next trip to the supermarket can be organised. And with the extra space you find from not having piles of food you can’t identify, you can treat yourself to something a bit naughty from the freezer aisle!

We thought you might like to see some of the best answers we had to the question “what’s the oldest thing you’ve ever found in your freezer?”

What’s the oldest thing you’ve ever found in your freezer?

• “Normally something I’ve frozen in a Tupperware box and have no idea what it is or how long I’ve had it!”
• “Homemade soup that was awful but I didn’t want to throw away”
• “Some fresh beef my mum gave me, I found it when it was a year old. In fact it’s still there as I’m too scared to eat it.”
• “Home grown runner beans – I don’t like them but Dad insists on growing them.”

The post Make friends with your freezer: spring clean your freezer appeared first on Frozen Food Revolution.

However, if we’re honest, we have tended to use it more for everyday meals in the past and haven’t automatically thought “frozen” when having people over to dinner.  Big mistake!  When we were having a hunt around our local supermarkets recently, we realised that a lot of gourmet frozen products are now on sale to make our lives easier when cooking something special.

Whilst we loving cooking for people, it can get a bit stressful juggling all the shopping for fresh ingredients, the cooking, and being a busy parent.  That’s where frozen really comes into its own, as you can buy quality ingredients ahead of time and keep them in the freezer.  And there’s no shame, if time is short, in cooking just some parts of the meal from scratch and buying in others ready-made. With a little creativity, nobody will spot the difference!

For instance, we found some delicious-looking scallops in the freezer aisle of our nearest supermarket.  They would make a great starter cooked in a little garlic, butter, white wine and parsley.  Or why not make a New England-style clam chowder with frozen clams?  Alternatively, you could go “old school” with a 1970s-style Prawn Cocktail made from some of the many types of frozen prawns on offer.

Onto the main course, we were impressed to find frozen beef fillet steak in one of the discount supermarkets.  However, it is in the fish selection that frozen really comes into its own.  Tuna steaks, sea bass fillets, and lobster tails were all available at the big supermarkets, along with more traditional favourites such as lemon sole – perfect with a butter sauce, new potatoes and wilted greens.

Finishing with dessert, there were lots of ready-made favourites available, such as cheesecakes and various gateaux.  In addition, we found that the range of desserts had now gone upmarket.  The supermarkets had their own “Finest” versions of French classics such as Tarte au Citron and Tarte Tartin, and celebrity chefs had also got in on the act.  In Waitrose, we found Heston Blumental’s Black Forest Buche, and Sainsbury’s stocked Raymond Blanc’s Cherry Clafoutis and Chocolat Delice – all of which looked supremely scrummy!  Now you could be honest and admit you’ve bought the dessert.  However, we reckon that you could make an easy raspberry sauce (with frozen berries, naturally!) and swirl it round a slice of one of the above desserts, and nobody would be any the wiser that you hadn’t spent most of the day in the kitchen……

Menus4Mums helps busy parents ditch the takeaways and ready meals and serve up tasty, healthy food for their families, saving them time and money in the kitchen.  Find out more at www.menus4mums.co.uk and download a FREE one week  sample meal plan.

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As part of our ‘Make Friends with Your Freezer’ campaign – we asked shoppers to estimate the average value of their freezer contents. A staggering 24% said theirs contained at least £100 worth of uneaten food.

As the nation continues to scrimp and save to buy food, many of us are repeatedly purchasing fresh food weekly and monthly only to put it in the freezer and ultimately throw it away.

82% of respondents in the research, which spoke to main family shoppers, said that they buy fresh meat at least monthly and 83% said that they bought fresh poultry at least monthly. This is despite shoppers having an average of 24 items in their freezer.

With 63% of people estimating between 11 and 30 items in their freezer, the big white box can be somewhat of a treasure chest if used well.

By making use of the meals hidden away freezers, families can save on trips to the supermarket and instead regularly stock up on frozen food which will stay fresh and maintain its high quality in the freezer without getting lost in a sea of unidentifiable frozen from fresh food.

We have created a handy infographic below from the results. Go on, check it out…

Want to find out more? Click on the links below to read more ‘Make Friends with your Freezer’ stories.

Calculate your Food Waste 

Freezing from Fresh 

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The first domestic freezers were available in the 1950’s and were very much a luxury product. Nowadays freezers can be found in the majority of homes and our seen as a necessity for most people.

Recently, we conducted a survey, though, to find out how people were using their freezers to store their food, and the results were very interesting.

Nearly 50% of shoppers in the UK have at least £75 worth of food stored in their freezer yet still purchase fresh food regularly says research exclusive to Fresh from the Freezer.

As part of our ‘Make Friends with Your Freezer’ campaign – we asked shoppers to estimate the average value of their freezer contents. A staggering 24% said theirs contained at least £100 worth of uneaten food.

As the nation continues to scrimp and save to buy food, many of us are repeatedly purchasing fresh food weekly and monthly only to put it in the freezer and ultimately throw it away.

82% of respondents in the research, which spoke to main family shoppers, said that they buy fresh meat at least monthly and 83% said that they bought fresh poultry at least monthly. This is despite shoppers having an average of 24 items in their freezer.

With 63% of people estimating between 11 and 30 items in their freezer, the big white box can be somewhat of a treasure chest if used well.

By making use of the meals hidden away in the freezer, families can save on trips to the supermarket and instead regularly stock up on frozen food which will stay fresh and maintain its high quality in the freezer without getting lost in a sea of unidentifiable frozen from fresh food.

The post Make Friends with Your Freezer: Freezer Treasure Chest appeared first on Frozen Food Revolution.

78% of people admitted to freezing food they’d bought fresh or chilled – often because they bought more than they needed – much of this food ultimately ended up in the bin. A massive 62% of these people throw away food that they’ve frozen from fresh or chilled because it no-longer looks appetizing.

The research, which quizzed the main family shopper on their home freezing habits, also showed that almost 3 in 5 people throw frozen from fresh food out because they can’t remember how long they’ve had it for.

In addition, 58% admitted that they throw this food away because they don’t clearly label it with product details and use by or purchase dates. Similarly, 44% remove packaging on fresh or chilled products to save on freezer space.

By heading directly to the frozen aisle in store, shoppers can ensure the highest possible quality from the food in their freezer. Commercially frozen food is ‘quick frozen’, this prevents ice crystals forming in the product, maintaining the best possible quality and texture – something that just isn’t possible in the home freezer.

Similarly, frozen food is specifically designed to be stored in your freezer which can help avoid the ‘guess what’s in the Tupperware’ uncertainty. Its packaging and labeling is designed to help keep food in optimal condition and make use by dates and cooking instructions clear and easy to follow.

To find out more about get the best from your freezer read our facts about frozen page.

The post Make Friends with Your Freezer: Freezing from Fresh appeared first on Frozen Food Revolution.

70% of people buy more fresh food than they need to on BOGOF (buy one get one free) deals only to freeze it and often ultimately throw it away causing unnecessary food waste, according to research conducted exclusively for Fresh from the Freezer.

In the first of our four part ‘Make Friends with Your Freezer’ campaign, we look at how much people are wasting by buying too much fresh and chilled food only to freeze it and eventually throw it away down the line.77% of people involved in the research, which looked at the shopping and freezing habits of families with at least one child, said that they frequently freeze fresh food because they can’t eat it all within the use by dates.

Similarly 61% of shoppers ended up freezing food at home because they don’t eat as much as they thought they would. In fact, a staggering 78% of people claim to regularly freeze fresh food at home.

However, this means that shoppers aren’t getting the most out of their food as they can never achieve the same high quality freezing at home as they can by buying frozen food.

Over the coming months we’ll look at why people choose to freeze at home, how much of this food ends up in the bin and how a better relationship with the freezer can help families to cut back on wasting food and money.

Check out our other ‘Make Friends with Your Freezer’ campaign blogs:

Freezing from Fresh

Freezer Treasure Chest

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The new Fresh from the Freezer app is available initially for iPhone and iPod touch users via the App Store. In an instantly accessible format it brings together a wide range of mouth-watering meal ideas using the very best frozen ingredients.

In addition there is a host of frequently asked questions and defrosting tips for cooking with frozen food.

We’ve launched the app to help you access our fantastic recipes, tips and advice on the move.

We know that busy lifestyles mean that mums are looking for fast and convenient ways to offer nutritional meals to their families without spending a fortune. Frozen food allows you to buy bulk pre-prepared meals and ingredients.

As well as being the ultimate convenience food, research shows that frozen food is as effective in providing family nutrition as fresh. We’ve launched the Fresh from the Freezer app to help support busy parents and help you to access simple but nutritional meal ideas at the touch of the button.

As more and more people in the UK use smartphones, the demand for instant information is increasing. Recent statistics show that nearly 40 million of us in the UK own smartphones, that’s over 48% of the entire population and predictions suggest that this is likely to grow with 80% of mobile users in the UK opting for smartphones by 2017.

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Two independent new scientific studies on compounds in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables have indicated that frozen may have higher levels of some antioxidants than their fresh counterparts.

Investigating the content of the most commonly bought supermarket fruit and vegetables, evidence from over forty tests conducted within two studies established that in 66 per cent of cases, frozen fruit and vegetables had higher nutritional levels of antioxidant-type compounds – including Vitamin C, polyphenols, anthocyanins, lutein and carotene – on day three of storage.

On this basis, researchers recommended frozen fruit and vegetables as effective in providing antioxidants needed to maintain a healthy diet. Over the last two decades it has widely been reported that antioxidants in diet can help to keep the immune system healthy by cancelling out the cell-damaging effects of free radicals.

In two separate studies, conducted by the University of Chester and Leatherhead Food Research, scientific researchers:

• Purchased fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable samples from each of the four main UK supermarket chains
• Stored each product for half a week – as might be the situation for a consumer who conducts a bi-weekly shop [source: IGD ShopperVista]
• Prepared composite samples from each produce type for analysis
• Analysed each sample for antioxidant-type compounds – Vitamin C, polyphenols, anthocyanins, lutein and carotene
• Evaluated the results of the analysis to establish the differences between fresh and frozen.

Professor Graham Bonwick of the University of Chester’s Environmental Quality and Food Safety Research Unit, who led one of the studies, said: “Our data concluded that the concentrations of antioxidant compounds measured in frozen resembled those observed in corresponding fresh produce prior to refrigerated storage. However, unlike frozen, some fresh produce concentrations exhibited a decrease during refrigerated storage to levels below those observed in the corresponding frozen produce. The effects were most noticeable in soft fruits.”

At Leatherhead Food Research, author of the second study Dr. Rachel Burch, said: “These results demonstrate that frozen can be nutritionally comparable to ‘fresh’ produce. We must disregard the mistaken opinion that ‘fresh’ food is always better for us than frozen food.”

Brian Young, Director-General of the British Frozen Food Federation said: “Fast and highly organised methods of ‘harvest-to-freeze’ have evolved with the express purpose of minimising nutrient losses. In contrast, ‘fresh’ food has been shown to spend up to a month in the chain of producers, wholesalers and retailers before consumers have access to store and prepare them. During this time we know that product deterioration takes place – to the extent that they can have lower nutritional value than their frozen equivalent.”

Both reports were commissioned by the British Frozen Food Federation. Downloadable copies of the reports and further educational information on frozen foods for the foodservice industry can be found on BFFF’s website.

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