Trends and Figures: European food industry

The average quantity of foodstuffs consumed each year by a typical European is 530 kg, 350 kg of which is either refrigerated or quick-frozen. Therefore, 172 million tonnes of foodstuffs are transported annually under controlled-temperature conditions: 22 million tonnes of frozen or quick-frozen food and 150 million tonnes of chilled food. The European food industry employs over 3.6 million people. It is the biggest European industrial sector, ahead of the automobile, chemical and mechanical industries.