Dehydrated 'packet soups were undoubtedly here to stay from the 1950s onwards. The trend towards shopping in the supermarkets and chain stores,which involved carrying the purchases home, highlighted, to the housewife, the great convenience of the 40g packet against the 400g can Some of the major soup manufacturers originated from the Continent where traditional culinary skill was displayed in the formulation of soups and a considerable service was rendered to the dehydration industry by the high standard of quality maintained in this field. Promotion of these products is now worldwide, and the future potential assured if quality is maintained POTENTIAL In the mid-70s the potential for vegetable dehydration in the United Kingdom appeared to experience some set-backs, and failed to achieve some of the earlier promised forecasts This applied mainly to the demand for domestic packs of individual eas,onions and mixed vegetables Potato granules were vigorously marketed, supported by advertising in the National media, and held their share of the convenience food market better than most other products but currently there is only one major granule producer left in the UK and some 2000 tonnes are imported each year. The greater part of this tonnage comes from the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and France. A small tonnage in 1986 came from Poland and Sweden. The USA, once a major source of imports into the UK, has shipped very little, due in the main to the weakness of sterling against the dollar since 1976, when the rate dropped from a high of $2.55 to he pound in 1971 to $1.80 in 1976. There was a temporary rally in the value of sterling against the dollarin 1979/81 but since 1976 other European origins for potato granules have developed strongly and have taken up the slack arising from the decline in home production in the last decade and American Potato granules still hold a substantial share of shelf space in the supermarkets where the domestic market is vigorously promoted but an ever increasing tonnage has now found its way into value-added products in the form of an infinite variety of potato-based snack foods, soups, sauces and garnishes, and ethnic speciality foods. Taking the straight sales of granules plus the tonnage used as a constituent of other dehydrated foods, it must be recorded that in this context the trade has expanded since 1970 Where impetus has been lost, however, is in the case of the most popular green vegetable-the'garden pea-which in the 70s looked set to compete very seriously with the frozen pea. In spite of energetic promotion,Dehydrated 'packet' soups were undoubtedly here to stay from the 1950's onwards. The trend towards shopping in the supermarkets and chain stores, which involved carrying the purchases home, highlighted, to the housewife, the great convenience of the 40g packet against the 400g can. Some of the major soup manufacturers originated from the Continent where traditional culinary skill was displayed in the formulation of soups, and a considerable service was rendered to the dehydration industry by the high standard of quality maintained in this field. Promotion of these products is now worldwide, and the future potential assured if quality is maintained. POTENTIAL In the mid-70's the potential for vegetable dehydration in the United Kingdom appeared to experience some set-backs, and failed to achieve some of the earlier promised forecasts. This applied mainly to the demand for domestic packs of individual products, such as green peas, onions and mixed vegetables. Potato granules were vigorously marketed, supported by advertising in the National media, and held their share of the convenience food market better than most other products but currently there is only one major granule producer left in the UK and some 2000 tonnes are imported each year. The greater part of this tonnage comes from the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium and France. A small tonnage in 1986 came from Poland and Sweden. The USA, once a major source of imports into the UK, has shipped very little, due in the main to the weakness of sterling against the dollar since 1976, when the rate dropped from a high of $2.55 to the pound in 1971 to $1.80 in 1976. There was a temporary rally in the value of sterling against the dollar in 1979/81 but since 1976 other European origins for potato granules have developed strongly and have taken up the slack arising from the decline in home production in the last decade and American imports. Potato granules still hold a substantial share of shelf space in the supermarkets where the domestic market is vigomusly promoted but an ever increasing tonnage has now found its way into value-added products in the form of an infinite variety of potatebased snack foods, soups, sauces and garnishes, and ethnic speciality foods. Taking the straight sales of granules plus the tonnage used as a constituent of other dehydrated foods, it must be recorded that in this context the trade has expanded since 1970. Where impetus has been lost, however, is in the case of the most popular green vegetable - the 'garden' pea - which in the 70's looked set to compete very seriously with the frozen pea. In spite of energetic promotion, 9