Frozen products help consumers reduce food waste in everyday life, because they are thrown away significantly less. This is shown by a current representative survey that Innofact AG carried out on behalf of the Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut e.V. (dti) in September. Around half of the respondents (49%) have never disposed of frozen products from the product groups fruit / vegetables, meat / poultry, fish / seafood, bread rolls, tarts / cakes and pizza / ready meals. In contrast, non-frozen food from the same product groups ended up in the bin much more often: only a quarter (26%) said they had never disposed of this food. This makes it clear that frozen foods make an important contribution to reducing food waste.
The results of the trend barometer clearly show where frozen food can make a particularly large contribution to ensuring that valuable food ends up on the plate and not in the bin. Fruit and vegetables as well as baked goods are the most frequently disposed of by consumers: only 9 percent of those surveyed have never thrown fresh fruit or vegetables away. Frozen fruit and vegetables, on the other hand, ended up with 44 percent of consumers: they have never been thrown into the trash inside. A similar picture emerges for the category of baked goods. Only 2 out of 10 consumers: inside (22%) have never thrown fresh bread rolls away. Frozen bread rolls fare significantly better in comparison – more than half of the respondents (52%) have never disposed of them.
The reasons for throwing it away are often subjective and individual, because most of the respondents stated that the food was no longer edible or seemed spoiled to them. On the other hand, the expiry of the best-before date was less relevant. This is a clear indication that the longer shelf life of frozen products is an important lever to counteract the throw-away mentality. The survey of frozen food users confirms this, as four fifths (78%) state that frozen products help them to reduce food waste.