On the back of findings released by Wrap last week, which found that UK households are throwing away a million tonnes of unopened food a year, a ground-breaking paper published by Emerald Group Publishing in the British Food Journal identifies frozen food as a significant solution to the UK’s six-million-tonne household waste mountain.
The research, written by Dr Wayne Martindale of Sheffield Business School at Sheffield Hallam University, shows that frozen food generates 47% less food waste compared to ambient and chilled food consumed in the home.
The research also found that households that include more frozen foods in their weekly meal planning could save around £250 per year.
Dr Martindale’s research also discovered that greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 2.4 million tonnes a year if households incorporated frozen foods into smarter meal planning.
“These results tell us a great deal about people’s lifestyle choices and demonstrate clearly that families can save money and waste by simply incorporating frozen food into their meal planning,” said Martindale. “People are simply less likely to waste frozen foods because it’s easier to control portion size and food obviously lasts longer in the freezer.
“With today’s world being busier and more demanding than ever, frozen foods offer an increasingly desirable, practical and nutritious food choice for busy families.”
The Sheffield Hallam University research used consumer research panels in its own purpose-built sensory testing labs to reveal that UK households bin almost twice as much fresh food as they do frozen, with the elderly and people under 25 among those producing the most waste.
The research project has engaged the frozen food manufacturing industry, working with some of Europe’s biggest food brands such as Iglo Group, parent company of Birds Eye, to gain industry support for the findings.
The findings will be utilised by food manufacturers to design products in a smarter way for meal planning so that the customer experience is improved and waste is reduced.
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