Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-06-25
BY VIOLET FAULKNER
Food Editor Of the star

The frozen foods industry was an infant
in swaddling clothes back in the early sos.
Now 80 years later it's giant, with an
overall annual revenue Of rs billion dollars.
In the interim. the industry has suffered
setbacks and growing pains. When fish fill
lets. the first frozen food to be marketed
commercially. were introduced the buying
public looked at them with jaundiced eye.
In fact, the initial attempt to establish
market for the fillets was dismal flop.
But Clarence Birdseye. the man gener-
ally credited with developing the quick
freeze method Of food preservation. was not
one to give up easily.
Back as early. as 1917 while on fur
buying trip to Labrador coupled with duties
as field naturalist with the United States
Biological Survey. he observed that fish left
out In the 5O-degree-below-zero winds froze
almost instantly. and that when they were
thawed and cooked could hardly be distin-
guished from fresh fish. He had faith In his
idea that foods could be qlick-frozen and
still retain their flavor, texture and nutritive
values. With new capital he plodded on
processing methods and machinery were Inn
proved, and it wasn't long before fish fillets
were gaining acceptance along with other
frozen food products.
Before the industry could get on its
feet the depression hit. Then along came
World War II.
The Office Of Price Administration gave
the industry boost by including frozen foods
IN Re rofia =.
point values" for various foods. OPA printed
thousands Of charts including frozen foods.
The charts. printed in newspapers and
posted in grocery stores. told millions Of peo-
pie about frozen products.
In 1912 the total output amounted to
only 500 million pounds Of assorted frozen
foods. at wars end in 1945 this had jumped
to billion pounds.
Production Boom
BY 1850 production had jumped to bill
lion pounds; by 1856 this had more than
doubled Last year the frozen food pack had
zoomed to rs billion pounds.
During this period OF expansion exciting
things happened to change the pattern Of
American eating habits. Seasonal and ira
ditionally perishable foods we're available any
time. any where. The housewife on wheat
farm In North Dakota could serve shrimp
remoulade as easily as her counterpart in New
Orleans. The busy woman who had French
fried potatoes only when dining out could
now have them as often as she liked.
Over the past 10 years pre-cooked en-
trees have appeared in the frozen food cab
inets along with baked goods, biscuits. pies.
cakes and a variety Of desserts. Complete
meals from soup to dessert are now avail
able.
In all. todays shopper has access to 296
different frozen prepared foods to say moth
ing Of some 4s6 different basic items such as
fruits, vegetables. juices. meats and seafood.
What about the future?
New freezing processes (some still in the
experimental stage) are opening UP q whole
new era In commercial freezing. thus maxi
ing 1t possible to introduce many new prod
ucts TO the consumer.
Dehydrofreezing and freeze-drying are
two new methods that are causing stir OF
country.
In simple terms. dehydrofreezing means
the food is first dehydrated diquid removed
and then frozen. In freeze-drying the proc
ess is reversed-first the food lie frozen and
dried by sublimation chat is. without going
through the liquid stated
This type Of processing reduces both
the weight and bulk Of the food by so per
cent However. dehydrofrozen foods still
require zero storage Just as other frozen
foods.
On the other hand. freeze-dried foods
may be stored on the pantry shelf. A can
OF shrimp. for example. Is so light in weight
you can balance II ON one finger.
A Noteworthy example Of the use Of
free0e-dried foods occurred during the re-
Continued on Page D-a. Col.