Answer:
Step-by-step explanation:
The frozen food industry would be nothing without Clarence Birdseye, the man responsible for Birds Eye frozen foods, which is currently owned by Pinnacle Foods Inc. People have been freezing foods as a means of preservation since as early as 1000 B.C., when the Chinese stored goods in ice cellars. But Birdseye figured out the logistics of selling frozen foods: how could he freeze it fast so it didn't deform the food tissue? How would he package it? How would he transport the product?
As a young engineer in Labrador, an eastern province in Canada, Birdseye often froze his catch after a day of fishing to keep it fresh. He learned this from the Inuit who would fish from holes in the ice and let it freeze instantly in the frigid temperatures, Mark Kurlansky writes in Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man. Birdseye noticed that when the fish thawed, it wasn't mushy like other frozen foods he had tried before. This was around 1912.
"When he lived in Labrador, the food he froze for his family was really good — not like the frozen food that was available everywhere," Kurlasky writes. "He realized that because it froze instantly, because it was so cold — that was the key to making frozen food good.
It wasn't until 1927 that Birdseye applied to patent a multi-plate freezing machine. According to the Handbook of Frozen Foods, Birdseye placed food between two metallic plates at -13 degrees F against a low convection tunnel to flash-freeze the product. In 1928, Birdseye was successful in creating the double belt freezer which would be the forerunner to modern freezing technology. In 1930, the first line of frozen foods went public through the Birds Eye Frosted Food Company which was later sold to Postum, Inc.