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Gregg Wallace is in Italy at an enormous pizza factory, where they produce 400,000 frozen pizzas each day.

Gregg Wallace is in Italy, at an enormous pizza factory where they produce 400,000 frozen pizzas each day. He mixes up a 450 kilo batch of dough for the bases; enough for 180 000 pizzas. He watches as each one is stretched to exactly 26 centimetres in diameter, then pricked with 522 holes, each 4mm deep, before they’re topped with tomato and disappear into the wood fired oven. It’s 25 metres long and the floor is made of rotating panels of volcanic rock heated to 450 degrees Celsius. Gregg’s pizzas emerge fully cooked after just 80 seconds. They’re topped with cheese, pepperoni, chillies and onions, then frozen and dispatched on their 1000 mile journey to the freezer compartments of British supermarkets.

Meanwhile Cherry Healey is asking if mozzarella – the traditional choice for pizzas - is also the scientific best bet. She finds that not all cheeses are equal, and that to melt well they must sit in a pH zone between 5 and 5.9. This explains why blue cheese and feta don’t work on pizza but mozzarella and gruyere do. In Austria, she transforms 400 kilos of pork into pepperoni. She learns that this preserved sausage is fermented and salted to give it a long shelf life. A production process that takes more than 2 weeks.

Historian Ruth Goodman is investigating the technology that allows frozen foods like pizza to be transported across the globe. 150 years ago we were all 'locavores', eating locally sourced food. But in the 1880s the game-changing invention of freezer ships meant that lamb and beef could be shipped from New Zealand and Australia. Combined with the 1938 arrival of the freezer truck, this created the worldwide cold chain that we rely on today. She also meets the man who popularised pizza in the UK back in 1965 when he opened his first restaurant in London’s Soho.

59 minutes

Last on

Wed 3 Apr 2019 01:25
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  • 00:00

    André Rieu

    That's Amore

  • 00:00

    Ed Sheeran

    Castle On The Hill

  • 00:02

    Joël Perri

    Azzurro

  • 00:02

    Josh Abrahams

    Addicted To Bass

  • 00:04

    David Holmes

    Holy Pictures

  • 00:06

    Dizzee Rascal

    Dance Wiv Me (feat. Calvin Harris and Chrome) (feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome)

  • 00:07

    Bad Sounds

    Zacharia

  • 00:07

    Eurythmics

    Sweet Dreams

  • 00:08

    Rita Pavone

    Geghege

  • 00:11

    Quadro Nuevo

    Tu Vuo Fa L’Americano

  • 00:12

    Taylor Swift

    We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

  • 00:14

    Arctic Monkeys

    Fireside

  • 00:15

    Joël Perri

    Che La La

  • 00:17

    Example

    The Answer

  • 00:18

    Calvin Harris

    Certified

  • 00:20

    Codes in the Clouds

    Don't Go Awash In This Digital Landscape

  • 00:21

    Olly Murs

    Better Without You

  • 00:22

    Ray BLK

    Doing Me

  • 00:22

    Anne-Marie

    Boy

  • 00:23

    Pharrell Williams

    Gust Of Wind

  • 00:24

    Joël Perri

    Funiculi Funicula

  • 00:25

    Little Mix

    Nothing Else Matters

  • 00:27

    Donna Summer

    Hot Stuff

  • 00:29

    Another Level

    Freak Me

  • 00:32

    Years & Years

    If You're Over Me

  • 00:33

    Anne-Marie

    Breathing Fire (Explicit)

  • 00:34

    Bad Sounds

    Couldn't Give It Away

  • 00:36

    Dua Lipa

    Hotter Than Hell

  • 00:37

    Fyfe

    Stronger

  • 00:38

    Fickle Friends

    Glue

  • 00:40

    Shawn Mendes

    Something Big

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    Mabel

    Come Over

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    Hudson Taylor

    Run With Me

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    MARINA

    Girls

  • 00:44

    Fickle Friends

    Swim

  • 00:46

    Tinie Tempah

    Illusion

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    Bad Sounds

    Hot Head Chippenham

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    Avicii

    What Would I Change It To (feat. AlunaGeorge)

  • 00:51

    Ed Sheeran

    Sing

  • 00:52

    whenyoung

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    André Rieu

    Bella Tarantella

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    Little Mix

    I Won't

Credits

Presenter Ruth Goodman
Presenter Cherry Healey
Presenter Gregg Wallace
Music Steve Tait
Sound Geraint Lewis
Sound Simon Cross
Sound Rafick Affejee
Director of photography Chris Titus-King
Camera Operator Rhys Plume
Colourist Carlotta Rio
On-line editing Ian Goff
Dubber Michael Wood
Video Engineer Charlie Perara
Post-Production editor Matthew Holland
Post-Production editor David Blakemore
Runner Richard Coffey
Researcher Daisy Fordham
Production Coordinator Rachel Drew
Production Coordinator Ally Young
Production Manager Samara Friend
Film Editor Tim Hansen
Film Editor Victoria Sankey
Film Editor John Payazidis
Director Simon Cheuk Pong Lee
Director Taylor Richardson
Assistant Producer Rob Myler
Producer Phil Stein
Producer Philip Smith
Executive Producer Jenny Midl
Executive Producer Sanjay Singhal
Director Michael Rees
Series Editor Amanda Lyon
Director Phil Stein

Broadcasts

Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.

The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.