The frozen food market in France

Deep-freezing is the process of rapidly lowering the temperature of a foodstuff, while still fresh and wholesome, to -18°C at the core. Freezing, a similar but less efficient process, offers less rapid cooling.

There are several techniques for freezing a product:

Contact freezing, reserved for thin foods (fish fillets, for example), is achieved by introducing the food between two plates through which a fluid circulates at -35°C.

The forced-air circulation technique, better suited to smaller products such as vegetables, involves placing products in tunnels where freezing air (-35°C) circulates rapidly.

The immersion method, adapted to irregularly-shaped products, involves immersing the food in a fluid at a very low temperature, such as liquid nitrogen.

IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) involves immersing foodstuffs in a liquid gas. More expensive, it is better suited to fragile products.

These complex industrial techniques mean that the core temperature of products must always be maintained below -18°C, which presents distributors with a real technical challenge.

This study on frozen products will focus on the different market segments, business-to-business and business-to-consumer, and the different forms they can take. Regarding B2C trade, the GSA (Grandes Surfaces Alimentaires) is in the lead, with total sales of 2.4 billion euros in 2021, compared with 921.2 million euros for specialist chains. [LSA]