The Secret World of Food Processing: Facts and stats from the industry

At Parsons, we work closely with a number of food production companies to provide solutions for odour abatement. Odour abatement may be required at several different stages in the food processing industry, including the preparation of animals (such as slaughter and scald and de-feather processes), cooking of animal products (such as processes used to create gelatine and tallow) and removal of any excessive odours from cooking and preparation in a variety of production lines.

We’ve pulled together some fascinating food processing and consumption facts to show you exactly what a huge market food is, and why so many factories need odour abatement solutions as a result.

1. In 2013, 2.2 million chickens were eaten every day in the UK. Roughly 55 million chickens are eaten per day around the world.
2. KFC sold 1.8 billion pieces of its famous fried chicken in the US in 2012.
3. Walkers process 800 tonnes of potatoes a day at just one of their seven UK factories. It takes around 20 minutes to transform a raw potato into a bag of crisps.
4. Haribo produced more than 100 million gummy bears alone at their head factory in Germany in 2013.
5. 18 million turkeys were reared and killed for dinner tables for Christmas 2012.
6. British consumers purchased 150,000 tonnes of bacon in 2016, and bacon is consistently rated as one of the most popular foods in the UK.
7. Over 700,000 tonnes of cheese were consumed in the UK in 2017, with cheddar being the most popular choice, followed by mozzarella, both of which are commonly made in the UK.
8. McDonalds sold more than 100 million Big Mac burgers in 2011 in the UK, one of their all-time highs for Big Mac sales in the UK.
9. In 2017 1.3 million kebabs will be sold, and around 2500 tonnes of chicken and lamb doner kebab meat is sold every week in the UK.
10. Birds Eye fish fingers were invented in 1955 and have remained a British favourite, with 1.5 million of their fish fingers sold every day in 2010.
11. 3 million ready meals were purchased every day in the UK in 2016.
12. In August 2016, 175,713 tonnes of sausages were consumed in the UK. That’s a lot of barbeques!
13. 2017 will see the amount spent on pies in the UK hit ?ú165.3 million for the year, with pork pies proving one of the most popular choices for consumers.
14. The UK ate 200,000 tonnes of baked beans in 2016, all processed at the main factory in Wigan – the largest food processing factory in Europe.
15. Over 350 million bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk are sold every year, and 250,000 chocolate buttons are made every minute.

What do we do?

Almost every factory that processes food in some form will require an odour abatement solution – to comply with both Environmental Agency requirements and to help keep local residents happy. Parsons are experts at providing odour abatement plant, both for purchase and rental, for a number of industries and we have a number of case studies demonstrating the success of our installations. Parsons are also able to offer servicing and maintenance plans on any of their plant.

If you need an odour abatement solution, contact Parsons today.

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jun/05/meat-consumption-uk-global-trends

https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/368295/uk-burger-market-worth-328b

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/7868771/Fish-fingers-10-things-you-almost-certainly-dont-know.html

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/01/crisps-british

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-best-kebab-houses-2017-9916254

https://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/institute/food-reviews/brits-buying-over-3-million-ready-meals-each-day

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/698320/BBC-s-Behind-the-Factory-baked-beans-heinz-production-secrets

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a45381/cadbury-chocolate-facts-trivia/

http://www.cheeseboard.co.uk/facts/top_cheese_facts-2