“Throughout history, one of the primary goals of human effort has been the production of food. The farm-to-city migration created a great demand for food supplies in dense population centers in which such supplies could not be grown. The frozen food industry has made great strides in recent decades to respond to consumer needs.

“The international frozen food industry started in the United States. Frozen vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish were first packaged and offered to consumers in 1930, contributing greatly to the convenience of life and freeing consumers permanently from the cycle of limited seasonal availability of many foods.”

Key Stats

Source: 2018 - 2021 Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM)

Frozen food manufacturing: This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing frozen fruit, frozen juices, frozen vegetables and frozen specialty foods (except seafood), such as frozen dinners (including entrees and side dishes), frozen pizza, frozen whipped toppings, frozen waffles, and pancakes and French toast.

Table AM1831BASIC01, Annual Survey of Manufactures: Summary Statistics for Industry Groups and Industries in the U.S.: 2018 - 2021, showing these North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes:

NAICS 31141, Frozen Food Manufacturing
NAICS 311411, Frozen Fruit, Juice, and Vegetable Manufacturing
NAICS 311412, Frozen Specialty Food Manufacturing

NAICS 311412, Frozen Specialty Food Manufacturing

Note: The table above shows just a few of the columns. Click on the image for the full table.

More Stats

Source: 2021 County Business Patterns (CBP)

Table CB2100CBP, All Sectors: County Business Patterns, including ZIP Code Business Patterns, by Legal Form of Organization and Employment Size Class for U.S., States, and Selected Geographies: 2021, showing these 8 Codes

NAICS 31141, Frozen Food Manufacturing
NAICS 311411, Frozen Fruit, Juice, and Vegetable Manufacturing
NAICS 311412, Frozen Specialty Food Manufacturing
NAICS 31152, Ice Cream and Frozen Dessert Manufacturing
NAICS 31171, Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging (Includes Freezing Seafood)
NAICS 31181, Bread and Bakery Product Manufacturing (Includes Frozen Bread)
NAICS 311813, Frozen Cakes, Pies, and Other Pastries Manufacturing
NAICS 42442, Packaged Frozen Food Merchant Wholesalers

From Business and Economy / International Trade:

USA Trade Online, the Official Source of Trade Statistics. Includes over 300 commodities related to frozen food imports and exports, including:

0202 Meat of bovine animals, frozen
0203 Meat of swine (pork), fresh, chilled or frozen
0204 Meat of sheep or goats, fresh, chilled or frozen
0207 Meat and edible offal of poultry, fresh, chilled or frozen
0303 Fish, frozen, excluding fish fillets and other fish meat
0710 Vegetables (uncooked or cooked by steam or boiling in water), frozen
0811 Fruit and nuts (uncooked or cooked by steam or boiling in water), frozen
2009.11 Fruit juices, orange juice, frozen

Note: After you create an account, select “Harmonized System (HS) District-level Data (Exports or Imports)" and type “frozen” in the "Commodity" search box. More information can be found in the Quick Start Guide.

Source: 2017 Economic Census.