Tag Archives: Frozen food

Food & Drink

Ready-to-Eat Smoothies Are Coming Soon in Frozen Food Aisle at Grocery Stores | Instant News


The frozen food sector anticipates an increase in the number of ready-to-eat smoothies targeting consumers looking for a healthy snack on-the-go throughout the day in addition to nutrition bars or yogurt.

Traditional products in the $ 14 billion global smoothie market are mostly frozen fruit drinks and packs that still require eaters to mingle at home, with some relatively newer brands such as Joybol by Kellogg and Naked Market offers a smoothie bowl that is stable on the shelf.

Ready-to-eat frozen smoothies, however, are a different kind: As well as not requiring a lot of effort to prepare them, they can also be scooped out and taste like ice cream, providing new opportunities for grocery stores to continue to take advantage of the growth of frozen foods that are known to maintain healthy nutrition more than perishable food.

This especially happened to Sweet nothings, a US smoothies startup that claims to be the first ready-to-eat product traded in the frozen fruit aisle and is made with a short list of plant-based ingredients.

“We have a very good reception from grocery buyers because we were able to increase sales for their frozen fruit sets,” Jake Kneller, who co-founded the company with Beth Porter, recently told me.

She said: “We see customers buying frozen blueberries and strawberries to make smoothies, but also admit that life gets busy, and on some days, they prefer the clean, organic, ready-to-eat version. [made without] added sugar. “

Attract consumers with sweet foods

Sweet Nothings, which hopes to get its patents to use chia seeds and flaxseeds as stabilizers instead of ingredients unknown to consumers, such as xanthan gum and sunflower lecithin, to achieve a scoopable texture, is produced in an ice cream factory, according to Kneller.

That has helped the brand lure consumers who have traditionally favored sweet-tasting products, he noted, enabled Sweet Nothings to sell 20,000 cups of Good Eggs in record time, and managed to secure listings in more than 1,000 stores nationwide, including many natural and specialty retailers. independent.

“A little under half of our shop is Kroger

KR
the banner belongs, and we feel lucky they will add us to 13 divisions for their 2nd Quarter reset, “said Kneller. “We also launched on FreshDirect in January, where we were selling 1,500 cups per week.”

He notes how Sweet Nothings started with a food service line, serving employees at large companies including Apple

AAPL
, Morgan Stanley

MISS
, and LinkedIn, but COVID has prompted companies to shift their focus to retailers and e-commerce over the past year.

“We’re also launching on Thrive Market later this year as part of their bid to freeze, and we’ve been chatting for quite a while with Amazon Fresh.

AMZN
 team, hope there are opportunities there, “added Kneller. “Frozen food is still very complex, and logistically difficult to do, but this retailer and ecommerce platform is excited about our innovative approach and clean ingredient deck.”

With seasoned investors and consumer entrepreneurs serving as corporate advisors, including CircleUp founder and CEO Ryan Caldbeck; and Thrive Market CEO and founder Nick Green Sweet Nothings anticipates a 10-fold increase in annual sales by 2021.

Kneller said: “We’re lucky to still have capital, and a really supportive investor base, but it makes sense to attract more institutional investors later this year or early 2022 to help guide our next phase of growth.”

KIND Snacks took part

Larger consumer brand KIND Snacks owned by confectioner Mars & Wrigley also recently launched its own line of ready-to-eat frozen smoothies, the fifth new category the company has entered in a year.

It is readily available at bulk retailers such as Walmart

WMT
 and Target

TGT
 With four different flavors, KIND smoothie is made from fruit and almond milk, topped with peanut butter and granola. Each bowl also reportedly contains 30% less added sugar than its main competitors, and about eight grams of protein.

Mike Barkley, CEO of KIND North America, tells me how these new products are consistent with the company’s mission from day one – to create innovative premium foods that are healthy and delicious with the goal of improving the overall experience of people.

He wrote to me by email: “Even though we are known for the most frequently consumed nutrient bars on the go, we continue to prioritize innovations across categories and parts of the day.

“We’ve all been told breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and KIND’s promise does well in this growing category where yogurt, smoothies, granola, and other choices that are better for you are increasingly favored with improved health – consumers who are increasingly aware. “

The KIND portfolio is reported to have experienced double digit consumption growth in Q4, 2020, with the granola business growing 22% in revenue over the past year, outpacing the overall category by 4%.

.



image source

Food & Drink

Sikes: Remember, you still have to be careful in the kitchen. | Food-and-cooking | Instant News


Right ahead – dangerous blunt knife. You have to push hard so you slip frequently. The cuts followed and the bad. Keep your knife sharp and stored safely. Don’t throw it in the drawer.

Get good, heavy cooking utensils. The hot light pan is uneven and can easily burn the user.

Be careful with the temperature of your water heater. Yes, it has control. Don’t set it too high. Use your food thermometer regularly. This is the best way to make sure your food is cooked safely to eat.

Food can also be dangerous. Freezers can really trick us. How about chicken breast pockets or burger buns that have pretty grill marks? They’re ripe and ready – right? Unless the label says done, it is not. Ready-to-cook food should be treated as raw for food safety.

Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator if possible. Last night did it for everything but the big stuff. If not, put the package tightly closed in cold water in the sink. Let the water run a little into the bowl and your food will thaw faster than you think.

Take what you need from the bag and put the bag back in the freezer on the spot. Do not defrost and refreeze food. Put what you took out in the bag to defrost. Don’t put shrimp or anything in the water directly.

A microwave oven can be a handy tool. They can be used for cooking and defrosting – just like raw food. Most of us don’t clean the interior as often as we should. Yes, the door too. Use a cleanser. Don’t let it become a bacteria box.

.



image source

Food & Drink

Don’t Store Food Outdoors, Even If You Lose Energy in Winter | Instant News


Illustration for article entitled Don't Store Food Outdoors Even If You Lose Charging During Winter

Photo: Berezovaya Nonna (Shutterstock)

Situations involving a loss of electricity are usually quite stressful. That’s because you often face not only a lack of power, but it usually occurs in the context of something else, like a major hurricane or natural disaster – like Extreme winter weather in Texas and many other parts of the country this week.

When a power cut occurs in the summer, it’s pretty clear that any food you have in the fridge or freezer won’t be safe for consumption in a relatively short time. But during winter, it’s okay to take perishable food outside – especially if there’s snow – and keep it there until the electricity returns, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. But there is one thing you can do to take advantage of the cold to the advantage of your diet. Here’s what you need to know.

Do not store food outdoors

According to US Department of Agriculture’s Food Inspection and Safety Service (FSIS), it’s not safe to store frozen or chilled food outside – even if it’s cold and / or snowy outside.

G / O Media can earn commission

There are several reasons for this, namely FSIS explained:

  1. Frozen foods can thaw if exposed to sunlight even when the temperature is very cold.
  2. Food stored in the refrigerator can become too warm, allowing food-borne bacteria to grow.
  3. The outside temperature can vary from hour to hour and outside temperature will not protect chilled and frozen food.
  4. Perishable items can be exposed to unsanitary conditions or animals. Animals may contain bacteria or disease; never eat food that comes in contact with animals.

What to do instead

If you really want to try to save some of your perishable food, instead of putting it outside, FSIS suggests taking advantage of the cold by making ice.

“Fill a bucket, empty milk carton or can with water and leave it outside to freeze,” FSIS advises. “Then put homemade ice in your refrigerator, freezer, or cooler.”

.



image source

New Zealand

China found the corona virus in frozen beef packaging from Brazil, New Zealand, Bolivia | Instant News


The eastern Chinese city of Jinan said it had found the new coronavirus in beef and tripe, and on the packaging of these products, from Brazil, New Zealand and Bolivia as China stepped up testing on frozen food.

The importers are a unit of the Guotai International Group and Shanghai Zhongli Development Trade, the Jinan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement on its website late Saturday.

The port of entry is Shanghai Yangshan port customs and outer port customs, he said. The statement from the city in Shandong province did not name the company that shipped the products.

More than 7,500 people who may have come in contact with the contaminated product and other related personnel have tested negative for the virus that causes COVID-19, he said.

Chinese authorities last week found the coronavirus on packaged Saudi shrimp in Lanzhou city, Brazilian beef in Wuhan city, and Argentine beef in Shandong and Jiangsu provinces.

China is the world’s top beef buyer and Brazil and Argentina its biggest suppliers.

Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province, detected the coronavirus on the outer packaging of frozen pork from Argentina on Friday, local authorities said in a statement late Saturday on social media platform WeChat.

The sample that tested positive came from 24 tonnes of frozen pork that was shipped from a cold storage facility in Qingdao port to a warehouse for a market in Zhengzhou city.

The batch was found to be contaminated during inspections before the goods could enter the warehouse, the government said.

The World Health Organization says the risk of catching COVID-19 from frozen food is low, but China has repeatedly sounded the alarm after detecting the virus in imported food products, triggering a disruptive import ban.

.



image source

Food & Drink

Is frozen food a risk of transmitting Covid-19? Maybe. | Instant News


In the early days of the pandemic, when much about how SARS-CoV-2 spreads was still very much unknown, consumers were warned to disinfect foodstuffs before putting food on the shelf or into their refrigerators. But over time, as the respiratory nature of the virus became more fully understood and our focus shifted to wearing masks and social distancing, people reduced these efforts. Even World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control reported that the risk of infection from handling food packages was low. But maybe not as low as we think.

In October, Chinese health authorities was found live coronavirus in frozen food packages in Qingdao – first time active virus has been detected outside refrigerated goods. The findings are worrying, especially when researchers become aware of the virus on the packaging maybe connected to a cluster of new cases in the region. China is the only country that carries out extensive inspections of incoming food shipments. Since inspections began, Chinese authorities have identified the virus on the package frozen shrimp from Ecuador, squids from Russia, chicken wings from Brazil, and frozen seafood from Norway.

As each new case was discovered, China doubled down on containment efforts, stopped some imports, enact new customs restrictions, and tightening inspection on all the food that enters the country, where new cases of Covid have been held at below 50 per day for months. Other countries, such as New Zealand, have also raised renewed concerns about potential risks. In August, after more than a hundred days without new cases, the authorities suspect that a cluster of new infections may have started at a food transportation facility with employees handling frozen food

A learn from the National University of Singapore confirmed contaminated food and food packaging as potential sources of the new Covid-19 outbreak and clusters of infections. The study noted the number of clusters at meat and seafood processing facilities around the world during the pandemic, with operations suspending poultry processing plants, tuna canners, slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses around the world. Dale Fisher, co-author of the study and chair of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, said it is possible that imported contaminated food could transmit the virus to workers as well as the environment and frozen food markets may be the first link in the new transmission chain.

“It hitched a ride, infecting the first person to open the box,” Fisher said in a Interview. “Don’t confuse infected supermarket shelves. This actually happened in the market, before there were many dilutions. ”

These findings serve as lessons for each of us at every stage of the food supply chain.

In food processing and packaging plants, workers should be provided with protection to keep themselves free from infection and to prevent it from spreading to food – workers should be tested regularly, given financial support if they test positive so they can self-isolate at home, and have access to masks, gloves, cleaners and workplace disinfectants.

Once the food reaches the store, grocery store workers should be provided with the same protection to limit the risk of further transmission. And all consumers – whether in a country like the United States where the virus is rampant, or in places like Taiwan where new infections are near zero – must continue to be vigilant. While many of us keep our doors closed to visitors, we still fill our cupboards with food from around the world. Contamination at major food distribution centers is a cause for concern for all of us around the world. If the virus can be found living outside of frozen food packages, it is likely that the virus can be found living inside the package. So it is wise for each of us to approach food handling with care – wash our hands thoroughly after removing food from its packaging, handle any food with care before cooking, preferably with gloves, and ensure that all food is thoroughly cooked. , which is sure to disable the virus.

.



image source