Quorn Foods has revealed plans to extend its meat-free ‘fish’ range in the UK with the launch of a frozen ocean pie in September. The company said that the move will mean that it offers the UK’s top “favourite” fish meals. The move follows the launch of fish-less fingers and a tuna crisp-bake in April, followed by a salmon crisp-bake and a tuna melt in May. It is also looking to launch a battered fish fillet to “complete” the range. The company plans to run... ...Read more »

Quorn Foods has announced plans to focus its marketing budget on educating consumers about the vegetarian meat-substitute range’s health benefits. The company said last week that it plans to spend some GBP 6 million (A$9.25 million) over the next 18 months driving Quorn’s “core benefit”, which chief executive Kevin Brennan said is “enabling consumers to eat their favourite meals but healthier”. “With their help we can continue to revitalise the Quorn brand... ...Read more »

Patties Foods has released a new product under their Creative Gourmet frozen fruit and dessert brand, Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes. The frozen fruit cubes are designed to be added to milk and blended to create an instant cold fruit smoothie, with flavours and attributes designed to appeal to the health-conscious, on-the-go consumer. The new Smoothie Cubes range features a specially-designed Breakfast flavour – banana, rolled oats, apple juice, honey, wheat fibre and cinnamon – designed... ...Read more »

Sales of premium ready meals for in-home consumption in the UK and the US are forecast to increase by almost 68% between 2009 and 2014, reaching a value of US$2.21 billion, according to a report by just-food. The US is expected to maintain its dominant position, with market value forecast to increase by over 58% to US$1.4 billion by 2014. During this time, the share of the frozen ready meals market taken by premium dishes is expected to increase from 13.7% to around 18%, as consumers increasingly... ...Read more »

The sales of certain ready meal lines in the UK are in “terminal decline” as more local consumers look to cook from scratch, retail giant Asda has claimed. Paul Kelly, Asda’s corporate affairs director, told a food conference in London that a growing number of UK shoppers were turning their backs on selected lines in favour of cooking from raw ingredients. Kelly said the economic downturn had led to more scratch cooking and argued that, despite concern over the levels of culinary... ...Read more »