One of the partners of Anuga is the the German Frozen Food Institute (Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut e. V., dti), and as they preparing a series of events for this year’s trade fair, I recently spoke with Sabine Eichner, managing director of the dti to find out more about what the organization is presenting in October.
Frozen Food Europe: What are your general expectations regarding this year’s trade fair?
Dr. Sabine Eichner, managing director of German Frozen Food Institute: We are very much looking forward to the exchange with our members and guests, with frozen food fans from all over the world – at our stand and at the numerous events highlights we offer for the industry at Anuga in Cologne. Anuga Frozen Food is our most important frozen food marketplace and the leading export platform for the global frozen food industry for more than 600 companies from 56 countries. Frozen food is the solution driver and gamechanger for the challenges of more sustainable food systems – Anuga’s motto ‘Sustainable Growth’ is a perfect fit for our industry.
This year, our special industry anniversary „100 years of deep-freezing “, celebrating the invention of blast freezing by Clarence Birdseye in 1923 around the globe this year, provides a great setting for us to meet in Cologne. The dti has been a partner of Anuga Frozen Food, the coolest trade show under the Anuga umbrella, for many years. This year, our booth is in Hall 4.2, B11/C10, and is always a popular meeting point for all members, guests, and frozen food enthusiasts. We also offer a varied and diverse program of events for the industry: On October 8 at 11 a.m., together with the International Frozen Food Network (IFFN), we will be hosting the specialist conference “Frozen food as a game changer for a healthy and sustainable future”, for the first time as part of the Anuga event program. This will be followed at 1:30 p.m. by the presentation of FROZEN! dti Innovation Award, with which we are honoring innovations for the frozen food industry for the first time in this anniversary year.
FFE: What should visitors expect to learn from attending the „Frozen food as a game changer “international conference? Is this something that you plan on organizing for the following trade fairs as well?
Dr. Sabine Eichner: With the international conference “Frozen food as a game changer for a healthy and sustainable future”, the global frozen food industry is setting an example for innovation, sustainability, and growth in the anniversary year “100 years of frozen food”. International experts from industry, food trade and food service will discuss current market developments and the potential of frozen food for more sustainable food systems.
The conference is organized by the International Frozen Food Network (IFFN), which brings together the world’s leading frozen food associations from around the globe. IFFN’s goal is to raise awareness of the benefits of frozen food and share best practices within the international frozen food industry. Members of the IFFN are: ADEPALE (France), Alcass (Italy), American Frozen Food Institute (USA), British Frozen Food Federation (UK), Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut (Germany), Fachverband der Lebensmittelindustrie (Austria) and Vries Vers Platform (Netherlands). The conference is already generating a great deal of interest in the industry. We can therefore very well imagine organizing international professional exchange on topics of our industry in the future as well.
FFE: What type of companies are you ‘targeting’ with the dti Innovation Award?
Dr. Sabine Eichner: The FROZEN! dti Innovation Award supported by AFC and Anuga recognizes achievements that address the challenges of the future in the spirit of frozen food inventor Clarence Birdseye. The focus here is on innovative start-ups, but novel approaches from established companies are also in demand. Young food and technology start-ups continue to provide important new impetus for developing healthy, sustainable, and contemporary foods and technologies that meet the needs of today’s society.
But older companies also show time and again that revolutionary innovations are just as possible from within their current business. The determination to tackle challenges boldly and to develop creative, long-term successful business models from trends not only distinguished frozen food-pioneer Clarence Birdseye, but also connects young and already established companies.
FFE: How would briefly describe how the frozen food industry has changed over the last couple of years? Have you noticed any new trends that are worth mentioning?
Dr. Sabine Eichner: Frozen food is not only posting record sales in Germany but is also on a growth trajectory internationally. According to dti sales statistics, frozen food sales in Germany in food retail in 2022 were more than six percent higher than the result for 2019, at almost two million tons. The out-of-home market experienced a significant growth spurt in 2022 with the end of the Corona restrictions and is the fastest-growing segment in the frozen food industry. In 2023, the frozen food market in Germany will continue to develop positively despite weak consumer sentiment: in its mid-year review, the dti expects sales to grow by 3.5% to 4.044 million tons in 2023.
For total sales in 2023, we forecast growth of 15.3% to EUR21.383bn. Convenience products, as well as small, ready-to-serve consumption quantities, are on the rise here. Consumers’ preference for food that is quick and easy to prepare is also driving growth internationally: The global frozen food market was worth USD314bn in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% to USD602bn by 2032. These are the findings of the recently published report by Future Markets Insights. The average annual growth of the frozen food category was nine percent from 2017 to 2022.
The reasons for the success of frozen are the popularity of quick-to-prepare frozen meals and pizza, but also of fresh frozen components for self-cooking such as vegetables and fish, and the high quality and freshness of frozen. The focus on high-quality frozen products in both the branded and private label segments and the inclusion of current trends such as vegan and vegetarian products in the frozen range have also had a positive impact on market growth. My forecast for the future of our category is that the major transformation themes of sustainability and plant-based nutrition will continue to gain enormous importance, especially among young consumers. This offers the food industry many opportunities for innovation.
FFE: Please list a few of dti’s plans for the following period.
Dr. Sabine Eichner: The transformation of the economy and society toward greater sustainability is one of the central political tasks of our time. We believe that the future category of frozen food can play an important strategic role for the challenges of today and tomorrow and for more sustainable nutrition. The benefits of frozen food range from the secure supply of nutrient-rich, fresh, and long-life food for private households and in out-of-home catering to the possibility of acting as grid storage in “intelligent power grids” (smart grids). We want to convince private and professional consumers as well as our stakeholders from politics of the numerous advantages that frozen food offers for solving requirements not only in nutrition.
Our representative consumer survey dti-frozen food-Trendbarometer, which we conduct regularly together with the renowned opinion research institute Innofact, and our political discussion event KOSTBAR will therefore focus on the fall, among other things, on the role of frozen food in community catering. For years, companies in the frozen food industry have been successfully taking their own initiative to operate more sustainably. They invest in innovations, new equipment, and processes, and continuously optimize their operations along the entire value chain.
As an association, we support our members on the path to greater sustainability and climate protection: With activities such as our dti “Future Workshop: Frozen food industry on the way to climate neutrality”, we help to further improve the energy and resource efficiency of the frozen food industry, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make raw material sourcing even more sustainable. Together with our member companies, we are working on standardized methods for climate accounting in the frozen food industry. The goal is an industry climate balance and a climate target for the frozen food industry.