The Food and Drink Federation annual awards celebrate innovation and creativity among UK food and drink manufacturers.
The judges have shortlisted Apetito’s Carte Choix range – a ward-level plated meal range delivered on a warm china plate and designed for high-turnaround hospital wards – and its texture-modified range for those with chewing and swallowing difficulties.
Each has been shortlisted in the innovation category of the awards.
The Carte Choix range was developed to improve the dining experience on acute, short stay and out-of-hours wards such as maternity and oncology, allowing patients to choose from an a la carte offering at a time which suits them. The company claims that where it has been introduced it has reducing food waste by up to 30% and enhanced patient recovery rates.
Its texture-modified range of meals was created to appeal to and assist those with chewing and swallowing difficulties, associated with conditions such as dementia, dysphagia, and neurological conditions like Parkinson’s, covering texture-categories C-E.
Paul Freeston, chief executive at Apetito said: “As a company that provides meals to some of the country’s most vulnerable people, we want to ensure that our offerings are as tasty and visually appealing as they possibly can be.
“For example why should someone who has dementia and dysphagia be offered a pureed meal that looks unfamiliar rather than one which has been designed to look exactly as appealing as their solid equivalents, or a hospital patient have to wait for a pre-allocated meal, which they may not even have chosen?
“At Apetito we are extremely proud of the innovations we have made to improve healthcare, care home and community meals, innovations which we continually strive to develop and improve, and are very pleased that these have been acknowledged on this prestigious shortlist.”
The winners of the Food and Drink Federation Awards will be announced at an award ceremony at London’s Vinopolis on November 14th.