In his second speech as president Shaw cited growth of frozen as an indicator of the industry’s health. But warned of increasing legislative burden that threatens the sector.
Shaw said that while analysts might say that the growth of frozen isn’t very exciting, the retail market is well above the £5bn sales mark. The first £4bn has taken oven 50 years to achieve with the last billon being added in just five or six years. He added: “Compound growth of 2.9% during some of the most difficult trading conditions that most of us have ever known is something to be applauded.”
Turning to the legislative landscape, Shaw urged government departments to keep up the fight for sensible and practical solutions for the UK food industry whilst protecting consumers’ interests. He said that it is encouraging that the coalition government is keen to reduce the amount of regulation that industry is burdened with but unfortunately much legislation is generated from Brussels.
He commented that in recent years, the UK has often been a single voice out of 27 when debating regulations, more recently in the information bill the inclusion of ‘date of freezing’ for certain product sectors.
Shaw acknowledged that there was evident consumer confusion around ‘use by’, ‘sell by’ and ‘best before’ dates and asked whether there was anything to be gained by including a ‘first freezing’ date. He declared that the frozen food industry stood “ready, willing and able to help government in this complex area.”
Source: BFFF
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