The vegan and vegetarian movement may be helping the frozen food department. Frozen vegetable sales in Italy climbed 4.1% during the first eight months of 2017, according to Istituto Italiano Alimenti Surgelati (IIAS). It reported that the gains were boosted by new food trends, such as organic produce and strong demand for vegetarian and vegan products. The popularity of vegetables contributed to growth for the overall frozen category, with sales up by 2.9% during the period this year, compared to flat performance in 2016.
Presented in Milan, the “Annual Report on Consumption of Frozen Products” in Italy, shows that the consumption of frozen food has begun to grow, recording in the first 8 months of 2017 an increase above the trend of the food sector in general (which grew instead of + 2.5% in the first 6 months of the year). In detail, there were about 328,149 tons of frozen food purchased in the first 8 months of the year, with peaks between vegetables (+ 4.1%), fish (+ 4.4%), pizzas and snacks (+ 4.5%).
