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41-711: Findus ( Swedish pronunciation: ['fɪndɵs] ) is a frozen food brand which was first sold in Sweden in 1945. Findus products include ready meals, peas and Crispy Pancakes, the latter of which were invented in the early 1970s. The Swiss food company Nestlé owned the Findus brand from 1962 to 2000; it sold the rights to the brand in most of Europe (except in Italy where it was owned by Unilever ) in 2000 whilst retaining ownership in Switzerland (later under Froneri ) until 2021. Through

82-535: A child. Fish Finger that contains chips coating instead of breadcrumbs . Popular during the late 1980's and early 1990's. Findus were previously sponsors of the former 2nd tier of British ice hockey the British National League . They also sponsored English football club Grimsby Town between 1979 and 1984. On 7 February 2013, it was revealed that the Findus beef lasagne range in the UK, France and Sweden and

123-567: A false alarm. Spanghero products did not contain E. coli and the French authority DGCCRF cleared Spanghero on 22 June 2011. In a public letter later that day, 11 firms, including Tesco and Asda , said they shared shoppers' "anger and outrage". Whitbread vowed to remedy the unacceptable situation on 26 February. The FSA's chief executive, Catherine Brown also said "it is unlikely we will ever know" how many unwittingly ate horse meat. In 2016, all Findus products were removed from UK supermarkets. In 2019,

164-624: A food importing business, "Baerselman Bros", was shipping some 200,000 frozen geese and chickens per week from three Russian depots to New Star Wharf, Lower Shadwell, London over three or four winter months. This trade in frozen food was enabled by the introduction of Linde cold air freezing plants in three Russian depots and the London warehouse. The Shadwell warehouse stored the frozen goods until they were shipped to markets in London , Birmingham , Liverpool and Manchester . The techniques were later expanded to

205-489: A food product's cells and extracellular space. Slow freezing leads to fewer but larger ice crystals while fast freezing leads to smaller but more numerous ice crystals. This difference in ice crystal size can affect the degree of residual enzymatic activity during frozen storage via the process of freeze concentration, which occurs when enzymes and solutes present in a fluid medium are concentrated between ice crystal formations. Increased levels of freeze concentration, mediated by

246-423: A maximum of several minutes). It may correspond to cryogenic freezing, fluidized bed freezing, or any other technique that meets the definition. Frozen food packaging must maintain its integrity throughout filling, sealing, freezing, storage, transportation, thawing, and often cooking. As many frozen foods are cooked in a microwave oven , manufacturers have developed packaging that can go directly from freezer to

287-462: A new recipe and name were introduced for Findus' crispy pancakes. Findus was not the only perpetrator, as Compass Group , the world's biggest catering firm, Sodexo the French contract caterer to hospitals, schools and defence sites and Whitbread , Britain's biggest hotel and hospitality group, were both indicted for illegally selling concealed horse meat in food products. Frozen food Preserving food in domestic kitchens during modern times

328-607: A number of acquisitions, the brand in Scandinavia , France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland is now owned by Nomad Foods . In June 2015, Iglo Group was purchased by Nomad Foods. Nomad followed this in November 2015 with the purchase of Findus' European business, with the exception of Findus UK and Young's , which remain under the ownership of Lion Capital and its partners. Young's confirmed in February 2016 that it intended to rebrand Findus in

369-405: A pan", Italian for " stir frying "), a microwavable or easy cooking version of classic Italian dishes, such as amatriciana and tagliatelle al ragù. Crispy Pancakes is the name of a brand of frozen savoury pancakes containing various fillings and coated with breadcrumbs. Findus originally introduced this quick cook popular with children minced beef pancake product right back in 1958 although it

410-403: A process is cheaper at scale, but is usually slower. (There is also more upfront investment in the form of construction.) Nevertheless, a wide variety of processes have been devised to achieve faster heat transfer from the food to the refrigerant: Individual Quick Freezing is a descriptive term that includes all forms of freezing that is "individual" (not in a whole block) and "quick" (taking

451-483: A recall of its 375 gram packs of ready-made single portion lasagne (code 63957) and published a contact number for customers who had already purchased the products. The horse meat is thought to have been introduced via a Romanian abattoir that delivered the meat to a trader in the Netherlands. They were contracted by a Cypriot trader who sold the frozen meat to Spanghero . The meat was then sent to Comigel who makes

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492-508: A significant amounts of salt and fats added. It is therefore recommended to read the nutrition label and the ingredients list. Freezing is an effective form of food preservation because the pathogens that cause food spoilage are either killed or do not grow very rapidly at reduced temperatures. The process is less effective in food preservation than are thermal techniques, such as boiling, because pathogens are more likely to be able to survive cold temperatures rather than hot temperatures. One of

533-634: A small factory in Scania . Findus products were exported to an increasing number of European countries in the late 1950s, including the United Kingdom in 1958. In 1962, Findus Co. was acquired by the Swiss food and beverage company Nestlé . In 1963, The Swiss food and beverage company Nestlé and the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever formed a frozen foods joint venture in Italy, which sold products under

574-540: Is achieved using household freezers . Accepted advice to householders was to freeze food on the day of purchase. An initiative by a supermarket group in 2012 (backed by the UK's Waste & Resources Action Programme ) promotes the freezing of food "as soon as possible up to the product's 'use by' date ". The Food Standards Agency was reported as supporting the change, provided the food had been stored correctly up to that time. Frozen products do not require any added preservatives because microorganisms do not grow when

615-406: Is limited to fish fillets, seafood, fruits, and berries. It is also possible to freeze food by immersion in the warmer (at −70 °C (−94 °F)), but cheaper, liquid carbon dioxide , which can be produced by mechanical freezing (see below). Most frozen food is instead frozen using a mechanical process using the vapor-compression refrigeration technology similar to ordinary freezers . Such

656-410: Is often defrosted in one of several ways: People sometimes defrost frozen foods at room temperature because of time constraints or ignorance. Such foods should be promptly consumed after cooking or discarded and never be refrozen or refrigerated since pathogens are not killed by the refreezing process. The speed of freezing has a direct impact on the size and the number of ice crystals formed within

697-533: The Findus name. In the 1970s, famed film director Orson Welles provided narration for a series of Findus television commercials that aired in the UK. Outtakes from the recordings sessions (in which Welles complained about the quality of the advertising copy, argued with the director, and ultimately stormed out of the recording booth) have become known colloquially as the Frozen Peas recordings. The Findus Flag logo

738-545: The meat-packing industry . From 1929, Clarence Birdseye introduced " flash freezing " to the American public. Birdseye first became interested in food freezing during fur-trapping expeditions to Labrador in 1912 and 1916, where he saw the natives use natural freezing to preserve foods. A 1920s hunting trip to Canada, where he witnessed the traditional methods of the indigenous Inuit people, directly inspired Birdseye's food preserving method. The Icelandic Fisheries Commission

779-521: The British private equity firm, Lion Capital LLP . FoodVest was renamed Findus Group in 2009. On 6 January 2009, a fire broke out at the British Findus factory, devastating much of the building. Newcastle Production , owners of the factory, entered in the administration with Zolfo Cooper on 12 January, leading to 359 redundancies. Unilever later sold Findus Italy to Permira in 2010. In June 2011 it

820-622: The Comigel and Spanghero plants. The investigation's results should be known on 14 February and they will determine the fraud source. Spanghero is working jointly with the authorities on this investigation. Public health scientists suspect the horse meat may contain traces of bute which is harmful to humans in large amounts. Spanghero had to withdraw 12 tonnes of mince in June 2011, because of suspected contamination by E.coli , which causes potentially fatal food poisoning. This contamination happened to be

861-498: The UK from Nestlé in 1999. Geir Frantzen, a former senior manager at Findus AB , bought out the UK company in April 2005 from EQT. EQT sold the rest of the Findus business (excluding Italy and Switzerland ) to CapVest Limited in January 2006, which subsequently created FoodVest as a holding company for Findus and Young's Seafood . In July 2008 FoodVest, including Findus, was purchased by

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902-528: The UK. Young's later sold Findus UK to Nomad Foods for £500 million. The origins of the Findus brand date back to the founding of Skånska Frukt- vin- & Likörfabriken ( Scanian Fruit, Wine and Liqueur Factory ) in Bjuv , Sweden, in 1905. In 1941 this company was acquired by the confectionery manufacturer Freja Marabou and was subsequently renamed Findus Canning Factory . In 1945 the first Findus-branded deep-frozen food products went on sale in Sweden, produced in

943-720: The United Kingdom and Ireland in most major supermarkets. In Italy, they were historically made and packed in the Sagit factory in Cisterna Di Latina and are known as Sofficini ("soft ones, fluffy ones") and are described as mozzarella and cheese, tomato and mozzarella, mozzarella and spinach or cheese and ham. The chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall re-created Findus Crispy Pancakes on his television show River Cottage in November 2009. Fearnley-Whittingstall stated in an article in The Times in 2009 that he loved Findus Crispy Pancakes as

984-420: The best outcome: cooked through evenly and of good texture. The defrost system in freezers helps the equipment to perform properly, without thick layers of ice developing, thus preventing the evaporator coil from absorbing heat and cooling the cabinet. Ideally, most frozen foods should be defrosted in a refrigerator to avoid significant growth of pathogens . However, this can require considerable time. Food

1025-415: The contamination is "highly likely" to have been criminal activity. On 8 February 2013, Findus UK published a public apology on their website, also announcing that, following DNA testing, 3 of its products were found to contain horse tissue. These are the 320, 350 and 500-gramme packages of Findus Beef Lasagne and the company offered a refund for products purchased. In Sweden, Findus Sverige AB also announced

1066-480: The end consumer product. The French authority DGCCRF (Directorate General for Competition, Consumer affairs and Repression of Fraud) inspected Spanghero on Friday 8 February and was able to review the traceability of documents for the concerned batches on the past 4 months, which attests of the conformity of Spanghero's procedures. The French fraud office, the DGCCRF investigation is going on, and inspectors are visiting both

1107-492: The formation of large ice crystals, can promote enzymatic browning . Large ice crystals can also puncture the walls of the cells of the food product which will cause a degradation of the texture of the product as well as the loss of its natural juices during thawing. That is why there will be a qualitative difference observed between food products frozen by ventilated mechanical freezing, non-ventilated mechanical freezing or cryogenic freezing with liquid nitrogen. According to

1148-735: The microwave. In 1974, the first differential heating container (DHC) was sold to the public. A DHC is a sleeve of metal designed to allow frozen foods to receive the correct amount of heat. Various sized apertures were positioned around the sleeve. The consumer would put the frozen dinner into the sleeve according to what needed the most heat. This ensured proper cooking. Today there are multiple options for packaging frozen foods. Boxes, cartons, bags, pouches, Boil-in-Bags , lidded trays and pans, crystallized PET trays, and composite and plastic cans. Scientists continue to research new aspects of frozen food packaging. Active packaging offers many new technologies that can actively sense and then neutralize

1189-428: The military near the end of World War II. The freezing technique itself, just like the frozen food market, is developing to become faster, more efficient and more cost-effective. As demonstrated by Birdseye's work, faster freezing means smaller ice crystals and a better-preserved product. Birdseye's original cryogenic freezing approach using immersion in liquid nitrogen is still used. Due to its cost, however, use

1230-504: The ownership of investors led by Lion Capital. In February 2016, Young's confirmed it would discontinue use of the Findus brand in the UK, replacing it with Chef's Classic and Original Pancake Co. Froneri later sold Findus Switzerland to Nomad Foods Europe for approximately €110 million in 2021, unifying Birds Eye/Iglo/Findus ownership in continental Europe. The Italian Findus range includes 4 Salti in Padella (literally "four jumps in

1271-512: The presence of bacteria or other harmful species. Active packaging can extend shelf-life, maintain product safety, and help preserve the food over a longer period of time. Several functions of active packaging are being researched: The process of flash freezing itself generally effectively retain the nutrient content of foodstuff with minor losses of vitamins, making them a cost-effective and nutritious substitute from fresh equivalents. However, pre-seasoned frozen food, such as packaged meals, may have

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1312-545: The problems surrounding the use of freezing as a method of food preservation is the danger that pathogens deactivated (but not killed) by the process will once again become active when the frozen food thaws. Foods may be preserved for several months by freezing. Long-term frozen storage requires a constant temperature of −18 °C (0 °F) or less. To be used, many cooked foods that have been previously frozen require defrosting prior to consumption. Preferably, some frozen meats should be defrosted prior to cooking to achieve

1353-468: The producer of the lasagne. According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the company had been alerted by a third-party French supplier on 4 February 2013 and tested its beef lasagne products finding over 50% of the tested products contained horse meat. According to reports, both Findus UK and the French supplier withdrew all products related to the third party supplier. It is thought the reason for

1394-481: The shepherd's pie and moussaka ranges in France contained horse meat without proper declaration. The contamination may have gone on since summer 2012 according to a leaked document. Out of 18 products, 11 tested positive for horse meat. It was also revealed that some of the products sold had minced meat declared as beef that actually was 60–100% horse meat. The source of the horse meat was a third party supplier of Comigel ,

1435-617: The temperature of the food is below −9.5 °C (15 °F), which is sufficient on its own in preventing food spoilage. Long-term preservation of food may call for food storage at even lower temperatures. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), a tasteless and odorless stabilizer, is typically added to frozen food because it does not adulterate the quality of the product. Natural food freezing (using winter frosts) had been in use by people in cold climates for centuries. In 1861 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort established at Darling Harbour in Sydney , Australia,

1476-626: The world's first freezing works, which later became the New South Wales Fresh Food and Ice Company. Mort financed experiments by Eugene Dominic Nicolle , a French born engineer who had arrived in Sydney in 1853 and registered his first ice-making patent in 1861. The first trial shipment of frozen meat to London was in 1868. Although their machinery was never used in the frozen meat trade, Mort and Nicolle developed commercially viable systems for domestic trade. The financial return on that investment

1517-502: Was adopted in 1971. Unilever acquired Nestle's stake in the joint venture in 1985, giving it full ownership of the Findus brand in Italy. The Findus Lean Cuisine range was launched by Nestlé in 1987. In 1998, Nestlé announced that it intended to discontinue the Findus brand in the UK in favour of its Crosse & Blackwell name. The plan was dropped when Swedish firm EQT AB purchased the Findus brand in Scandinavia, France, Spain and

1558-467: Was announced that Findus Group would take back direct responsibility for sales and marketing of the Findus brand in Spain, which it had previously licensed to Ardo in 2005. In November 2015, Findus in all markets excluding the UK was sold to Nomad Foods , former Nomad Holding , which had already purchased Iglo Group , former Birds Eye , in June that year. Findus' UK operations remained alongside Young's under

1599-420: Was created in 1934 to initiate innovation in the industry, and encouraged fishermen to start quick-freezing their catch. Íshúsfélag Ísfirðinga , one of the first frozen fish companies, was formed in Ísafjörður , Iceland, by a merger in 1937. More advanced attempts include food frozen for Eleanor Roosevelt on her trip to Russia. Other experiments involving orange juice, ice cream and vegetables were conducted by

1640-457: Was minimal for Mort. Regular shipments of frozen meat from Australia and New Zealand to Europe began in 1881, with a consignment of frozen New Zealand sheep exported to London on board the Dunedin . By 1885 a small number of chickens and geese were being shipped from Russia to London in insulated cases using this technique. By March 1899, the "British Refrigeration and Allied Interests" reported that

1681-583: Was more common in the 1970s and 1980s when advertised on TV. Past fillings include cheddar cheese, chicken and bacon, chicken and sweetcorn and chicken and mushroom (these were being phased out in November 2001 and finally discontinued in 2002). They have been made available again since 2019 under the Birds Eye branding. Flavours include just mozzarella, tomato and mozzarella, ham and mozzarella, minced beef and onion. Crispy pancakes, packaged in Britain, are sold in

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