Wegmans Food Markets is introducing an innovative way to enjoy quick and easy seafood meals anytime. Eleven stores throughout Wegmans’ market areas are now offering a first-of-its-kind line of chef-developed seafood entrées sold frozen and ready to cook in oven-safe packaging. The family-owned company plans to make these items available in the seafood department of all stores in January 2019.

Wegmans’ Montgomery County locations include King of Prussia, Montgomeryville and Collegeville.

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Each seafood entrée is sold frozen and vacuum-packed, ready for the oven with no preparation needed before cooking and minimal cleanup afterward. Not only does the packaging eliminate prep work, it also preserves flavors and speeds up cooking times. Each item goes from the freezer to the dinner plate in 40 minutes or less. Cooked right in the package, the entrées don’t even create a fishy odor in the house. Like all Wegmans seafood, they’re chemical free and sustainably sourced.

“We hear from customers all the time that they’d like to add more seafood to their diets but aren’t sure how to cook it or don’t find its shelf life flexible eno

ugh in a weekly meal plan,” said Wegmans Seafood Category Merchant Mark Fromm. “Seafood entrées in oven-safe packaging are a simple solution. They can be kept on hand in the freezer, they’re nearly effortless to make, and the taste and texture are consistently outstanding.”

These are the six new items found in the seafood department of select stores now:

• Shrimp Scampi
• Salmon Teriyaki
• Mediterranean Cod with artichokes, tomatoes, and capers in a lemon butter sauce
• Scallop Chowder – a clam chowder base with scallops, onions, carrots, and celery
• Seafood Bouillabaisse
• Garlic Broth Seafood Medley with mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp, calamari, and potatoes in lemon garlic clam broth

Wegmans was the first grocery store chain to develop signature recipes in oven-safe packaging when it debuted a variety of ready-to-cook meat and poultry items in 2016. The packaging is made without Bisphenol A (BPA) and has been extensively tested for safe, direct contact with food by the FDA and two universities with packaging science programs: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Virginia Tech.

“It may seem unusual to cook meat or seafood right in the package, but this material was designed for oven use,” said RIT Packaging Science Department Chair Daniel Johnson. “This type of packaging has been commonly used in the food service industry for years, and our scientists completed additional testing to verify its safety and efficacy for home cooking.”

Priced at approximately $10 per serving, ready-to-cook seafood in oven-safe packaging is now available at the following locations before it reaches all Wegmans stores in January: Columbia, Maryland; Westwood, Massachusetts; Cherry Hill and Manalapan, New Jersey; Dewitt, Ithaca, McKinley, and Pittsford, New York; Allentown and Warrington, Pennsylvania; and Fairfax, Virginia.

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a 98-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The family-owned company, recognized as an industry leader and innovator, celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2016. Wegmans has been named one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ by FORTUNE magazine for 21 consecutive years, ranking #2 in 2018.

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