Panic buying boosts frozen food sale in city

SHILLONG: At a time when fresh food is scarce, frozen food can be an option and many citizens are going for it.
The sales of frozen food like vegetables, snacks, sausages and bacon have gone up during the lockdown period, said Rishan Rynjah, a distributor and owner of House of Frozen foods in Laban. “Panic buying has triggered an uptrend in sales,” said Rynjah. In the usual time, Rynjah sells 1,200 kg of chicken a month but in the last one month, more than 4,000 kg have been sold out. “Now the problem is that stock is depleting and I cannot even procure from Guwahati because of the lockdown,” he added.
House of Frozen Foods, which was started in 2014, represents seven companies in Shillong and sells a variety of products, including seafood like crab and salmon that Rynjah, who has an engineering and MBA background and was associated with the corporate world for over two decades, directly imports from Europe.
Some frozen food items are imported from Mumbai while others are sourced from Guwahati, he said.
On a cautious note, Rynjah said he does not advocate daily consumption of frozen food “as the preservatives are harmful”.