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Frozen Fish is Discovered

An Arctic surveyor chances upon frozen fish

If an unknown Arctic surveyer called Clarence Birdseye hadn't noticed local inhabitants naturally freezing their fish to preserve them, there may never have been TV dinners and frozen ready meals!

He is now recognized as the major innovator of frozen food. Clarence Birdseye was a young scientist working in the Arctic when he noticed that freshly caught fish, when exposed to the freezing winds and low temperatures of the Arctic, immediately froze solid. He also discovered that the fish, if thawed and consumed months later, retained all of its fresh characteristics. So, it can be said that the Arctic local population, the Inuits, invented the frozen ready meal before we even had thought of it!

Birdseye discovers the freshness of frozen

Birdseye's discovery created a new type of food preservation for the Western world

Birdseye created a food industry that would make him a rich man. It is said that the youthful scientist and explorer had courage to thaw out the rock hard fish weeks later and cook it and eat it. At the time, this was an unknown and a real risk. It could be that he thought he was risking poisoning by eating ‘rotten fish’. However, it could also have been that he was invited to eat with Inuits who had done this daily for thousands of years and, seeing that they were not dead yet, decided to try a frozen ready meal too! Either way, what is undisputed is that Clarence Birdseye saw a business opportunity and traveled back to the United States with the frozen ready meal knowledge.

 

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Inuit Knowledge

It is highly likely that he learnt the basic frozen meal methods from local inhabitants.

He was working for the US Biological Survey as a field naturalist at the time and he was researching the ways of the native Americans who lived there, so it is likely that Birdseye witnissed local Inuit freezing methods first hand. 

The Arctic conditions were perfect: the ice, wind, and low temperatures froze everything exposed within minutes. Birdseye realized that quick freezing of foods reduced the size of the crystals which were forming. His slow freezing methods had resulted in large crystals forming in the flesh, this transformed the food so that the tissue was damage and it was not good to eat. Birdseye perfected and formula for freezing fish and meat that resulted in no damage to the cellular structure of the food.

Birdseye was skilled in business. He knew that he had found something important and started to perfect his freezing methods. He knew that the American public would enjoy the various types of foods they could never obtain otherwise. He just had to perfect the freezing.

The 'double plate' freezer

Birdseye's winning formula

Birdseye formed his company, Birdseye Seafoods Inc. in 1922 and continued his experiments with freezing fish at his factory near the Fulton Fish Market in New York. After two years of trial and error, he chanced upon the winning formula – wax-packing fish in cartons then freezing them between two flat, refrigerated surfaces whilst under pressure. The ‘double plate’ freezer was born. His method quickly froze his produce with little damage to the cell structure. When the frozen items were defrosted and cooked the produce was indistinguishable from fresh. Birdseye patented his ideas and frozen ready meals were very close to taking the world by storm!

Success did not come immediately for Clarence. His first commercial outing of frozen foods was in Springfield, Massachusetts 1930. It was called the ‘Springfield Experiment Test Market’. He included 26 different types of fish, meat, fruit, and vegetables and marketed the event with the slogan ‘50 Below Zero’ and people loved the idea that they were able to take home perishable produce that had come from hundreds of miles away months ago.

Frozen foods are distributed to the people 

Birdseye assured the success of his empire by creating a frozen food distribution network. 

He worked with the American Radiator Corporation to minimise premature thawing of his produce and frozen ready meals in shops. Together they produced low-temperature shop storage units to hold the produce in perfect condition for the customer. At the same time Birdseye manufactured and distributed insulated rail carriages. These were to ensure the safe and frozen shipment of his frozen food products across the United States.

In the United States by the 1950s, frozen food sales had exceeded one billion dollars annually. The majority of retail outlets had a frozen food capacity and pre-prepared ready meals had started to become popular. Frozen ready meals were in their infancy and were not what we may recognise as a frozen ready meal today but they had been discovered and mastered.

The Birdseye frozen fresh legacy

Before his death in Springfield, Massachusetts, on 8 October 1956, The Food and Drug Administration (part of the US Department of Health) acknowledged that frozen foods are as healthy as the same foods would be if cooked from fresh.

Of course Clarence new this already – he had been solely responsible for providing the increasing populations of the developed world with affordable, nutritious and fresh frozen food. This knowledge would soon be taken to new heights where the frozen foods and frozen ready meal would become a staple in modern cooking methods.

Today, the frozen food industry targets a new type of shopper – a health conscious consumer who is increasingly aware of where frozen food comes from. And increasingly aware of nutrition, cost and convenience food issues. Of course, all of which are discussed here! And, as people get busier and busier, the frozen ready meal becomes ever more popular. And, due to demand, a new type of frozen ready meal is emerging – a healthier, more nutritious ready meal. And this is good for all! Frozen ready meals now show exactly what is inside the packaging with clearly labelled ingredients.

Modern Frozen Meals

Modern pre-packaged frozen meals are flash frozen the Birdseye way

Home freezers do not go down to the same temperatures as those Clarence Birdseye invented and they do not freeze food as quickly. For this reason home freezers are best for freezing already frozen foods from the supermarkets. Frozen ready meals last longer in your freezer and the texture and flavour is better because they have been flash frozen. Frozen meals can also contain more vitamins and nutrients because the goodness is locked in. Fresh foods can sit around for days on shop shelves and lose a lot of their goodness as a result.

 

 

Page last updated at 16:26 Europe/London, Thursday, 15 April 2010