During the past 4 or 5 months, I’ve noticed a lot of imported foods in the various supermarkets that I shop in in San Francisco. For example, In the Safeway freezer, I’ve found crème broule complete with ceramic containers. On the box is emblazoned “Imported from France”. The price was 3.99 Today, I went to Trader Joe’s and found some frozen strudel, imported from Germany. The price was 2.59. I’ve also seen frozen egg rolls from Taiwan, frozen popsicles from France, etc. I’ve also seen frozen lamb chops from Australia, but I’ve seen this available for several years.
Are imported frozen items a new phenomenon? I don’t recall seeing an abundance of them prior to the last 4 or 5 months. How do they get the frozen things to the USA, by plane, boat, etc (obviously both, but what is the main source of transportation)? How can it be cost efficient to make strudel in Germany, freeze it and ship it to the USA to be sold for $2.59?
Actually, I’ll bet the deal came as part of a massive buy by TJ’s. They dealt for a boatload of foodstuffs from Germany, and got a deal on some of it. They turn a higher profit than normal on what they can, and loss-leader the rest.
But seriously, folks: shipping frozen foods anywhere in the world is no different from shipping them from an American plant to your local Safeway. Containers can be equipped with freezer units, and can be sent by rail, road, ship or air with no fear of thawing.
How can the Germans or the French afford to sell this stuff so cheaply? Well, one possibility is that these are goods that were meant for the domestic market, but didn’t sell as well as expected.
<Cleese> Frozen Crème Brulée? Quel catastrophe! My muzzer spins in her grave! </Cleese>
So rather than junk them, they get sold off for a small percentage of their original price.
My wife’s family imports and distributes a lot of high end frozen foods to stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods among others. Their business has taken off over the last 7 or 8 years for those items. They are really just part of an overall trend for higher quality foods with a larger selection in the U.S. If the foreign versions are superior or perceived as superior then their is usually a niche market for it.
Frozen items are usually brought in on a refrigerated container ship. The fact that they are frozen means there isn’t a huge rush almost by definition. My wife’s family also imports some dairy products like gourmet French yogurts that have a very short shelf-life. Those are flown in at great expense and the prices at the store reflect that.
If an item is listed as manufactured in Germany, a lot of the work will actually have been done in coutries in eastern Europe. You might find they use Polish milk, cardboard containers made in Estonia, eggs from Slovakia. Imagine if Texan frozen food producers had completely unrestricted access to anything produced in Mexico or central America, and how they could be so much more competitive than companies elsewhere in America.
