Do we like them?

Do we like Birds Eye?

Frozen food brand (fish fingers, veg, ready meals). Owned by Nomad Foods in the UK and Europe, by Conagra in the US.

Our score: 6 out of 10. A mainstream frozen food brand with real sustainability reporting and no fines or lawsuits found in our search. We found little hard evidence either way, so we'd back it with moderate confidence.

Birds Eye isn't one company worldwide. In the UK and Ireland it belongs to Nomad Foods, which bought the Birds Eye parent Iglo from private equity firm Permira in a €2.6bn deal. Permira kept a 9% stake, according to the results we got back.

Over the years Nomad has added more brands, including Findus, Aunt Bessie's and Goodfella's Pizza. In the US, Birds Eye sits with Conagra Brands, which got it when it bought Pinnacle Foods in 2018.

On the good side, Nomad publishes annual sustainability reports. The latest one we found says 97% of its vegetable, potato, fruit and herb volumes scored silver or gold on the SAI farm standard. It was also added to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2021.

On the bad side, the Food Standards Agency issued a recall in December 2022 for Birds Eye Original Beef Quarter Pounders with Onion, which might contain small pieces of plastic. A Birds Eye squash recall over ammonia contamination also turned up in the US. We found no fines or lawsuits, but we only did a light search.