Last updated: 25 October, 2024 @ 08:27
Supermarket chain Morrisons has opened the UK’s largest fish freezing centre in Cornwall which it says will help bring the ‘freshest fish for customers’ to its stores nationwide.
The new £12.8m development at the Cornish fishing business Falfish, is the largest and most advanced seafood freezing line in the UK, with a freezing tunnel that can freeze 112,000 fish per hour – the equivalent of nine arctic truckloads per day.
Customers can enjoy a ‘wider range of fresh, high quality fish’
The opening of the centre – which can individually quick-freeze up to 180 tonnes of sardines and other varieties of fish per day – represents the ‘largest single investment made in Cornish shoresides in a generation’.
Morrisons says that it prepares and makes ‘more than half of all the fresh food sold in its stores’, and the new site will allow fresh fish to be frozen and packed in just an hour.
It says this means customers ‘can enjoy a wider range of fresh, high-quality fish and in stores and at Market Street counters’.
‘Freshest fish for our customers’
Andrew Thornber, managing director of Myton Food Group, Morrisons food manufacturing supplier, said: “Over 80 per cent of the fish and shellfish sold in Morrisons stores comes from our seafood operations in Cornwall, where we buy directly from local fishermen.
“Opening the UK’s largest fish freezing centre not only strengthens our position as one of Britain’s biggest food makers but also significantly grows our seafood export business.
“We have been excited about this innovative project since acquiring Falfish in 2021, which makes such a positive difference to the local industry and community and provides a sustainable future – as well as the freshest fish for customers in Morrisons stores.”