Contact:
Nick George, President
608-255- 9946
Nick.George@mwfpa.org
Brian Elliott
Dir. of Communications
608-255- 9946
Brian.Elliott@mwfpa.org
March is National Frozen Food Month and the Midwest Food Products Association is encouraging consumers to think about the freezer in a whole new way.
Frozen vegetables offer compelling advantages over raw produce, especially when it comes to
nutritional value and flavor.
1. Nutrition: There's no better known means of preserving food than by freezing. Commercial
rapid-freezing processes maintain nutritional quality of products without chemical preservatives.
And food quick-frozen and properly stored keeps their high nutritional value.
2. Freshness: Freezing foods seals in freshness. Foods designed for the freezer are selected at
their peak of nutrition and flavor, quickly processed and frozen within hours, before there has
been any deterioration in quality.
3. Convenience: Frozen foods are truly convenient. The cleaning, picking, dicing, chopping and
squeezing has been done.
4. No portion distortion: Frozen food packages tell you what you're eating. Packages have
ingredient and nutrition labeling. If you’re health conscious, counting calories or on doctor’s
orders, frozen foods can help.
According to Nick George, president of the MWFPA, “While fresh produce is often picked early to
give it time to ripen while en route to the supermarket, frozen foods are collected when it is at its
most ripe stage, providing consumers the most nutrition. And while the vegetables are blanched
prior to packaging to eliminate harmful bacteria, the majority of the food’s nutritional value
remains intact.”
The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) has introduced the new video “Farm to Freezer: The
Frozen Food Economy” in celebration of March as Frozen Food Month.
“Farm to Freezer: The Frozen Food Economy” is the impressive story of the $56 billion frozen
food industry from the farmers who grow fruits and vegetables to the companies who prepare and
freeze them at their peak. The three-minute video follows the vegetables in a chicken pot pie from
farm to fresh freeze processing to finished entree and highlights the way farmers’ fresh crops are
“paused” at their peak, preserving all nutrients and flavor.
According to AFFI, the frozen food industry contributes $56 billion to U.S. GDP and from the
farmers who grow fruits and vegetables to the companies who prepare and freeze them; the
frozen food economy employs 670,000 and stretches across all 50 states. Counting direct,
indirect and induced economic effects, the frozen food and beverage community’s total impact on
U.S. labor income was $35 billion. In Wisconsin, the frozen food industry contributes 20,300 jobs
and contributes over $1 billion in labor income. It also adds more than $1.4 billion in value to
Wisconsin products.
