The world’s largest French fry processor has announced plans to overhaul and simplify its Canadian frozen-food processing operations, basing its products on “real” ingredients.
New Brunswick-based McCain Foods said Wednesday it will change its frozen food products “to be made from simple ingredients like people would use if they made them from scratch.”
To that end, McCain, which operates 12 processing plants across Canada, said the recipes for “more than 70” products have been changed.
Also, without offering specifics, the company said its suppliers and company staff are expected to be involved in what McCain called “an intensive examination of their production capabilities.”
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The company’s campaign, called It’s all good, commits McCain to produce frozen foods that are “made with simple ingredients” and “nutritionally sound.” The company described its pledge as “a first in the frozen food category.”
“Instead of asking ‘What’s for dinner?’ Canadians are starting to wonder ‘What’s in dinner?’,” McCain CEO Fred Schaeffer said in a release Wednesday.
“We’ve heard them and are changing the way we make our products to meet their needs. Now when someone turns over a McCain Pizza box they will see simple ingredients that they recognize from their kitchen.”
It’s expected that when consumers read the label information, “the ingredients will be simple and easy to understand. And if we have to use an unfamiliar ingredient, we will explain what it is and why we use it,” Schaeffer said.
McCain said its first product launches under a new It’s all good banner will be the company’s frozen pizza, pizza pockets and potato products.
For example, the first affected products will carry “shorter and more recognizable ingredients.” Sodium is to be reduced and the pepperoni ingredients simplified in the affected pizza products. The Baked Pizza Pockets brand will include “real” cheese and flax seed in its crusts.
The company’s Superfries brand, meanwhile, will contain sea salt instead of regular salt.
“Not all McCain products are there yet. We understand that,” Schaeffer said. “We are challenging our employees, partners and others in the field to help us as we fulfill our commitment with each of our products.”
The company cited a consumer survey conducted on its behalf last November by TNS Canadian Facts, finding 80 per cent of the 1,294 Canadians polled are “avoiding foods that have excessive ingredients that look more like chemical names than real food.”
However, 71 per cent of respondents “regularly purchase frozen convenience foods with 20 per cent claiming to purchase at least once a week or more.”
Also, the survey found 85 per cent “look for prepared foods that are made with ‘real’ ingredients that they recognize.”
