Innovation lever: Nomad Foods
05 February 2026IGD’s framework for population diet change identifies seven levers that can be embed into a business to deliver healthier, more sustainable diets.
At Nomad Foods, innovation is a lever for turning the inherent strengths of frozen food into healthier, more sustainable choices that fit into consumer’s lives. As the owner of leading UK brands including Birds Eye, Goodfella’s and Aunt Bessie’s, Nomad Foods applies this approach across a wide portfolio.
In this video, Nomad Foods explains why frozen food should sit front and centre of a modern diet. Freezing acts as a “pause button”, locking in nutrients while extending shelf life and offering convenience. That combination positions frozen as a powerful enabler of both health and sustainability, but only if products are designed in a way consumers want to buy.
Across its portfolio, product development is guided by clear nutritional standards, with HFSS used as a design constraint rather than a compliance check at the end. New products are challenged if they do not meet those standards, while existing favourites are systematically renovated to improve their nutritional profile without compromising taste.
What differentiates Nomad Foods is how innovation is embedded beyond research and development. Technical briefs set clear parameters for health and sustainability which are passed onto Commercial and Marketing teams, ensuring consistency from concept through to launch.
Innovation is also opened up beyond the organisation. Through its Open Innovation Portal, Nomad Foods collaborates with start-ups and academics to accelerate solutions in areas such as functional nutrition and planetary health, using its scale to move ideas into market at pace.
By combining disciplined internal innovation with external collaboration, Nomad Foods shows how frozen can deliver meaningful dietary impact not just in theory, but on plates.