. for other uses see birdseye disambiguation . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message birds eye limited type subsidiary industry food processing founded 1923 founder clarence birdseye headquarters parsippany new jersey usa parent pinnacle foods usa iglo europe simplot australia pty ltd. australia website www.birdseye.com birds eye is an american international brand of frozen foods 1 owned by pinnacle foods in north america and by iglo group in europe . contents 1 history and production 1.1 europe 1.2 united states 1.3 australia and new zealand 1.4 unilever review sale to permira 2 brands portfolio 3 advertising 3.1 captain birdseye united kingdom 3.2 other advertising 4 2013 meat adulteration scandal 5 references 6 external links history and production edit the brand and its underlying business is held by different owners in various territories europe edit the birds eye brand is used extensively throughout ireland and the uk . in other parts of europe the iglo brand is used . 2 unilever announced in august 2006 that the business was sold to uk based private equity group permira . the company s staple product the fish finger was developed in 1955 at its factory in great yarmouth by a mr h a j scott . 2 one of the company s main uk pea processing sites is in gipsyville hull ; 3 the company formerly operated a large pea processing factory in the same area opened 1967 closed 2007 . 4 birdseye also operated a factory in grimsby founded 1929 closed 2005 with the loss of 650 jobs . 5 united states edit as part of general foods it merged with kraft foods and philip morris usa to form the altria group . birds eye was sold to dean foods in 1993 and was independently owned by birds eye foods of rochester new york until it was purchased by pinnacle foods in 2009 . 6 in march 2010 pinnacle announced it would be closing the rochester headquarters and moving operations to new jersey . 7 australia and new zealand edit the birds eye brand is owned by simplot australia pty ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of the j.r. simplot company . simplot purchased birds eye and many of australia s leading food brands from pacific dunlop s pacific brands in the mid 1990s . today birds eye is australia s leading frozen brand . citation needed birds eye products are produced at the company s processing facilities in devonport and ulverstone tasmania and bathurst new south wales as well as from imported ingredients . some seafood items are processed overseas and the completed product imported . citation needed unilever review sale to permira edit on 9 february 2006 unilever announced it was looking to sell the birds eye brand as well as the european version iglo austria belgium france germany netherlands and portugal . these brands were worth 836m in sales with profits of 115m a year and employ 3 500 staff across europe with 1 800 located in the uk . unilever will retain the iglo brand in italy where frozen food is still popular . citation needed on 28 august 2006 it was confirmed that unilever had agreed to the sale of the business held since the late 1930s to a private equity house permira for 1.2 bn . 8 brands portfolio edit headquarters in brighton monroe county new york birds eye has acquired many well established brands some of which are distributed regionally and not nationally . the following brands are owned and distributed by birds eye 9 bernstein s brooks comstock wilderness c & w freshlike greenwood husman s mckenzie s nalley riviera snyder of berlin potato chip maker based near berlin pennsylvania which had been split off from pretzel manufacturer snyder s of hanover in hanover pennsylvania in 1950 10 steamfresh tim s cascade snacks voila advertising edit captain birdseye united kingdom edit main article captain birdseye in the united kingdom captain birdseye was an advertising mascot of the brand from the 1960s to late 1990s . appearing in numerous television and billboard commercials since 1967 he was played by the actor john hewer between then and 1998 . 11 after the retirement of the original actor the brand was relaunched with a younger man with designer stubble played by thomas pescod but was less popular and the character was dropped from birdeye s advertising . 2 other advertising edit child actress patsy kensit appeared in a 1970s advert for frozen peas using her forefinger in her mouth to produce a popping sound . this followed a jingle including the slogan sweet as the moment when the pod went pop . citation needed 1980s campaigns included one for potato waffles that had a jingle including the words waffley versatile . a popular advertisement for birds eye steakhouse grills featured a scene of hungry building workers heading home in a minibus and singing about what they were hoping their partners would serve with their steak burgers . the song to the tune of que sera sera whatever will be will be included the tag line we hope its chips . 12 in the late 1970s and early 1980s june whitfield appeared in a series of television advertisements for birds eye products featuring the concluding voice over line . . it can make a dishonest woman of you . 13 the series was the brainchild of legendary advertising art director vernon howe and was worthy of mention in several of his obituaries . 14 15 since 2007 suggs the lead singer of english ska band madness has been the face of all birds eye products . the slogan good mood food and the madness song our house is used in all advertisements . from 2010 to 2014 all the birds eye foods featured a talking puppet polar bear named clarence voiced by willem dafoe . citation needed 2013 meat adulteration scandal edit see also 2013 meat adulteration scandal in 2013 dna tests revealed that horsemeat was present in birds eye chili con carne that was sold in belgium and was produced and supplied by a belgian group named frigilunch . 16 as a result birds eye withdrew all other products produced by the same supplier in the uk and ireland . 16 references edit ma t. 2014 . professional marketing and advertising essays and assignments . 5 . p. 3425 . a b c birds eye a timeline and history . the telegraph . 4 july 2010 . retrieved 9 may 2015 . from pod to pack the journey of a humble birds eye pea hull daily mail 16 august 2015 barkham patrick 12 january 2007 buccaneers blamed for birds eye closure the guardian 600 jobs to go at birds eye plant . bbc news . 7 october 2004 . retrieved 9 may 2015 . new jersey s pinnacle foods buys birds eye . nj.com . retrieved 15 march 2015 . birds eye plans to close n.y. headquarters after acquisition by n.j. based pinnacle foods nj.com march 2010 birds eye brands sold for 1.1 bn bbc news 28 august 2006 birds eye foods brands the snyder of berlin story timeline . snyder of berlin . retrieved 24 january 2016 . captain birdseye actor john hewer dies . the telegraph . 19 march 2008 . retrieved 9 may 2015 . steakhouse grills advert at do you remember . retrieved 17 july 2014 uk television adverts 1955 1985 . headington.org.uk . retrieved 15 march 2015 . the independent 404 . the independent . retrieved 15 march 2015 . vernon howe . telegraph.co.uk . 8 december 2003 . retrieved 15 march 2015 . a b horsemeat scandal birds eye withdraws uk ready meals . bbc news . 22 february 2013 . retrieved 22 february 2013 . external links edit official website v t e pinnacle foods inc. brands armour birds eye c & w comstock wilderness husman s nalley snyder of berlin voila celeste duncan hines earth balance evol gardein glutino hungry man lender s bagels log cabin syrup mrs. butterworth s mrs. paul s open pit smart balance swanson tim s cascade snacks udi s van de kamp s vlasic wish bone retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title birds eye & oldid 738062370 categories companies based in monroe county new yorkcompanies established in 1923food manufacturers of the united statesfrozen food brandsprivate equity portfolio companiespinnacle foods brandshidden categories use dmy dates from february 2016articles needing additional references from june 2014all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2014articles with unsourced statements from august 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was 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