Boil-in-Bag Packs Hot Stuff in 1959; Shrimp Freezing in India Gets Under Way.

Here's Part III of Quick Frozen Foods International's retrospective of important industry developments. For more than four decades, the saga of the global frozen food business has been reported in depth on the pages of this magazine without interruption.

In the United States, Isbrandtsen Co. of New York was pioneering a new form of refrigerated transport using liquid nitrogen. Marketed under the trade name Liquefreeze, the system was said to be suitable for less-than-carload lots, and to keep goods frozen for over a month in insulated containers without the need for mechanical refrigeration.

W.L. Morrison, a consultant to Isbrandtsen and a veteran inventor in the frozen food industry, developed the Liquefreeze system. One of its first trials was in shipping 200 pounds of frozen food to the US embassy in Moscow, via several modes of transport: by rail from Chicago to New York, by air from New York to Helsinki, and by rail again from Helsinki to Moscow.

Back in 1959, and for a long time thereafter, all the really new developments in QFF came from the United States -- and it was part of QFFI's business to keep the rest of the world informed about them. One of the cover stories in the first issue was "Boil in-the-Bag, Wave of the Future," which detailed the introduction of a then-revolutionary form of frozen food packaging by Seabrook Farms and other US processors. "Frozen Foods in the United States," a regular feature of the magazine, was a survey of products, markets, packaging, transportation and other items that might still be routine in the US, but came as revelations to the industry in the rest of the world.

There wasn't yet a European Union, although the European Community was in the process of formation, so it was big news in September 1959 that Britain, West Germany and the Netherlands had reduced tariffs and other barriers to imports of frozen food. It was a golden age for exports from the US, for Europe then imported huge quantities of American frozen poultry and orange juice concentrate. Eventually, however, the new Community set up a continent-wide tariff barrier against US poultry, while Brazil was able to undercut US exporters of FCOJ.

A report by Robert S. Russell showed that US consumption of heads-off shrimp had reached 211,393 tons in 1958 (126,000 tons domestic, 85,393 imported). Imports were considered a problem by US companies, and there was a move on to increase tariffs to 33% or even 50%. Russell also reviewed current developments and potential for such countries as Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, India, Pakistan and Hong Kong.

This was all in terms of wild catch, of course, because export-oriented commercial aquaculture just didn't exist in those days. Russell saw a potential harvest of two million pounds of headless shrimp a year in Costa Rica, for example, but a "lack of fishing boats and fishermen" had thus far prevented that from being realized. And one of the leading producers was still a vague blot on the map, for statistics from India were difficult to obtain. However, it is generally believed that the production of shrimp in India is equal to, or perhaps even surpasses that of the United States."

A feature story in the September 1959 issue praised the Swiss Migros cooperative as "The Continent's Finest Frozen Food Retailer." Migros had introduced small quantities of imported broilers in the early 1940s, and the first frozen fish fillets appeared in 1949. Per capita consumption of frozen poultry in Switzerland jumped from 2.65 to 6.61 pounds a year between 1953 and 1958, and that was mostly Migros' doing.

The cooperative began producing its own ice cream in 1949; a year later, it began importing frozen orange juice concentrate in six-ounce cans (for some reason, the latter never really caught on). In 1958, Migros started packing its own frozen vegetables, and also became the only firm in Switzerland to produce frozen ready meals. But distribution was still a problem, because freezer space in Migros' regional warehouses was limited, while refrigerated transport was also in short supply.

French and German summaries of leading articles began appearing in the January 1960 QFFI. The top news that issue was a conference at Verona, Italy, of 90 frozen food industry representatives from 13 countries -- the first such gathering ever in Europe.

Taking part were delegates from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and the United States. Efforts were under way in France and Italy, at the time considered "two of the most backward nations of Europe in the development of frozen foods," to break down sales resistance through promotional campaigns and demonstrations of frozen products in major cities like Lyon and Rome. Some 40 QFF processors in Germany had already combined their promotional funds in a joint campaign to develop the market there.

Field Reporting

"Frozen Poultry -- Cinderella Product," in the April, 1960 issue of QFFI, told of Europe's embrace of American poultry -- some 63.1 million pounds had been shipped in 1959 (45 million to West Germany alone), vs. 18.1 million in 1958.

Sam Silverman appeared as QFFI's special foreign correspondent, reporting on a trip to Asia where he found frozen foods flourishing in Japan and Hong Kong but virtually non-existent in Southeast Asia, India and the Middle East. The Danish Food Fair in June of 1960, made news. How come? Because it was the first in the country to include frozen foods. Ernest Barker was appointed QFFI Europe editor to keep up with such things.

But it was publisher E.W. Williams himself who delivered the first field report on the European industry, visiting 85 packers, distributors and retailers in eight countries. This was actually Williams' sixth trip to Europe, but the first since QFFI was launched. Some of the new ideas he came across included fish sticks packed with lemon slices, peas with mint essence and breaded mashed potato balls. What may have been the first continuous microwave oven, capable of heating 100 frozen meals an hour for institutional use, had also been developed in Europe.

"Prepared foods have taken England and the continent by storm," he reported, after years of fish and vegetables. And frozen dinners were finding success in Denmark as well as Britain. In Sweden, Findus was producing some of the finest frozen peas in the world, and creating a quality image for QFF. In West Germany, however, frozen food was being promoted almost entirely on price -- one retailer, for example, argued that frozen spinach had to be priced lower than canned, because canned was known and frozen wasn't. Still, frozen products -- domestic and imported -- were at least getting plenty of exposure. But frozen food was almost invisible in France, which Williams called the "underdeveloped country" of the industry.

Shrimp freezing in India was just getting under way, according to a first-hand report by Robert Russell. Most of the country's 350 million pound annual catch was then being dried -- of 70,000 tons landed on the west coast, only 5,000 were being either canned or frozen.

New Kids on the Bloc

A report in the September 1960 issue on Europe's rival trade blocs noted that the European Economic Community (EEC) had been created as a customs union, while the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was only a free trade area. The difference, of course, was that a customs union could create a common tariff barrier against outsiders. As is now known, that's just what the EEC ended up doing. At the time, the frozen food industry in Europe was said to be taking a wait-and-see attitude, and it was pointed out that the two blocs were mutually dependent EFTA countries exporting seafood and northern vegetables to the EEC and EEC countries shipping southern vegetables and fruits to the EFTA.

Internal tariffs on frozen food were soon being reduced by EEC members, with the Netherlands prevailing over West Germany in the decision to pursue that goal. But, as an analysis in the January 1961 QFFI detailed, there was still a long list of tariffs aimed at US products. Among major countries, France had the most and the highest -- up to 63% for peaches shipped between May 1 and June 15, for example, and 31.5% for lobster tails. Yet even there, some products were allowed in free -- notably frozen beef and pork. In other European news, Bird Eye had just completed the largest cold-store in Europe, with a capacity of 4,000 tons, at a cost of 250,000 [pounds sterling]. British frozen food sales had reached an estimated 46 million [pounds sterling] for 1960, compared to 36 million [pounds sterling] in 1959.

A report on self-service retailing in the April 1961 QFFI showed that Sweden and West Germany were the leaders, with 25% of their total food sales going through self-service outlets. The second rankers included Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Norway, with 20% each. About 15% of Denmark's sales were self-service -- and only five percent in France, Belgium, Finland and Austria. E.W. Williams' second annual report in the July issue found the European frozen food boom continuing, with growth rates of 50% a year in some countries (notably West Germany). Trends already well-established in the US -- more working women, more television watching -- were taking hold in Europe and increasing the demand for convenience foods. Convenience foods, meanwhile, were becoming even more convenient -- polybags were starting to appear in Britain, for example, and boil-in-bag products were becoming popular.

France Awakens

French frozen food production for 1960 was 12,936 tons, according to the October 1961 QFFI. That wasn't much, but still 74% ahead of 1959 -- and 400% ahead of 1955. The Federation Interprofressionelle de la Congelation Ultra-Rapide (FICUR) was doing yeoman service for the cause, Ernest Barker reported. But in Britain, production of frozen vegetables alone had reached 57,600 tons (more than four times the total for all QFF in France), up from 41,991 in 1959. Olof Oegren of Sweden's Findus was predicting that frozen food consumption for Western Europe as a whole might reach 1.2 million tons by 1970. Meanwhile, supermarkets -- frozen food and all -- had begun to appear in Latin America, especially Argentina, Venezuela and Peru.

Coffin-style retail cabinets were still universal in Europe and the rest of the world, but Jewel Tea Co. in Illinois had boosted frozen bakery products sales 300% at one of its stores by displaying them in a three-tier air curtain cabinet. The cabinet was developed by Continental Freezers, according to the January 1962 QFFI. The same issue reported that the rage in West Germany was a new island cabinet from Linde. Air curtain cabinets, of course, would eventually reach Europe -- but they lost favor even in the United States in the cost-conscious and energy-conserving 1970s and 80s.

Here was the handwriting on the wall for US exporters that had hoped to cash in on the growing European frozen food market: "While the duties within the Common Market are reduced systematically from year to year, the outer tariffs for several goods will reach the level of that member of the Common Market that has the highest duty at that moment. It is possible that some export goods from the United States will not be able to compete, even if they are subsidized."

There were other obstacles for US exporters, at least with poultry, according to the April 1962 QFFI: packaging wasn't strong enough to hold up to the rigors of international shipping, and there were also problems with pilferage. Some countries, notably Germany, were insisting on packaging in their own languages, and even pre-pricing based on metric measurements.