Clarence Birdseye

Today, in 1930, a United States patent was issued to Clarence Birdseye for his method of packaging frozen foods.

One of Birdseye’s first jobs was as a field naturalist for the USDA. The job leads him to Labrador in Canada on a for trading expedition.
During his time there, Birdseye observed that the Eskimos froze their food; finding fresh food during the winter was next to impossible. Birdseye became fascinated by its quick freezing process, which cleverly used the elements of wind, ice, and super cold temperatures. Birdseye noticed when the fish was frozen quickly, and it tasted amazing when it was thawed. Birdseye’s immediately wondered if the same process could be used with fresh vegetables and other foods.
Five years later, when he returned to the United States, he invented the quick freeze machine, and he started his own frozen food company.
Five years after that, he sold his business to Frosted Foods for $22 million. The year was 1929.