Birdseye, Clarence (1886-1956), pioneered the development of packaged frozen foods. While on a fur-trading trip to Labrador about 1915, Birdseye noted that quickly frozen fish were flavorful and fresh when thawed. He first marketed quick-frozen fish in 1925. General Foods Corporation later acquired the process. Birdseye invented a food-dehydrating process in 1949. He acquired about 300 patents during his life. See also Food, Frozen .
Birdseye was born on Dec. 9, 1886, in the Brooklyn section of New York City, and he graduated from Amherst College. He died on Oct. 7, 1956.