Food waste is a hot political and environment topic at present. It looks as if Scottish consumers are, like those in other parts of Britain, still guilty of quite substantial, repeated wastefulness but that they are beginning to address the issue. In some case that means ‘thinking frozen’.
A nationwide survey by food and drink agency Lux valued the amount of food wasted by each Scottish household at £470 a year (or just over £9 a week). But it also found that more than half of Scots see potential food waste as one of the main reasons that they should consider buying frozen foods.
Love Food Hate Waste Campaign Manager at Zero Waste Scotland Ylva Haglund said: “The figures suggest that Scots are becomingly increasingly aware that food waste is a major issue and are doing their bit to tackle it.
“Avoidable food waste across Scotland has reduced by almost 8% since 2009, with households saving around £92m a year.”
• Ayrshire firm We Hae Meat has launched a new range of frozen meat products in part to help consumers avoid waste.
The company’s Alex Paton said: “Fresh from our farm to frozen, the range is packaged in specially designed resealable pouches.
“We believe this makes it easier to enjoy premium Scottish meat without it potentially going to waste.”
• Quoting figures from Kantar Worldpanel the British Frozen Food Federation says that in the year to 13 September 2015 the retail value of frozen food grew by 0.4% to almost £5.8bn.
The figures show that frozen ready meal sales were up by 2.3% in value and 2.1% in volume while frozen pizza sales rose by 5.1% in volume and 4.3% in value.
