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This is the fifth year in a row that M&B has won this category – four times with the highly successful British Turkey Awards, which ran for over two decades, and now with the newly created British Poultry Awards.
The announcement came last night in front of more than 200 industry VIPs including buyers, manufacturers and farmers at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel in London, where awards were handed to winners of 11 industry categories.
British Poultry Council chief executive, Richard Griffiths, said: “Our new awards attracted a huge number of high spec products from across the industry from small independent producers to the big players. Huge thanks to all those who entered and congratulations to all the winners; it was a very successful evening and great to see all the poultry industry come together for the first time for an awards event.”
Hundreds of products were shortlisted, and the best of the best were put forward as a finalist. Judges tasted British fajita pulled chicken, turkey meatballs and duck steaks to name just a few.
Winning Foodservice Operator of the Year means Mitchells & Butlers has the opportunity to carry the endorsement for a period of 12 months across its range of outlets from Toby Carvery, Harvester, Vintage Inns to All Bar One and O’Neill’s. All winners will benefit from a dedicated logo to use on their advertising and POS.
The UK Foodhall won the Best Foodservice Poultry Product award for its cooked chicken breast fillet, which the judging panel thought was convenient for the education sector as the meat could simply be defrosted and heated.
The judging panel included Lee Maycock, national chairman of the Craft Guild of Chefs; Jake Davies, editor for Poultry World and Farmers Weekly magazines; Lucy Jessop, acting cookery director at Good Housekeeping Magazine; Sheila Eggleston, food and drink editor at Cost Sector Catering; and consumer Lisa Maps, who won an online competition to earn her place on the panel.
The full list of winners are:
Student Chef of the Year
Asian-style turkey picnic – Danny Francomb, Hackney College
Best Blogger Poultry Recipe
Cauliflower bulgur wheat casserole with honey chicken and peaches – Monika Dabrowski, EverydayHealthyRecipes.com
Best Ready to Eat
Aldi British fajita pulled chicken
Best Fresh Turkey Product
Asda Butchers Selection turkey burgers with chilli
Best Fresh Speciality Poultry Product
Lidl Fen Farm Norfolk hand plucked and game hung free-range bronze turkey
Best Fresh Duck Product
Gressingham duck breast with cherry and hoisin sauce
Best Fresh Chicken Product
Morrisons green Thai style diced chicken breast
Best Fresh Seasonal Product – Summer Eating
M&S mango and coconut chicken flatties
Best Fresh Whole Turkey – Christmas
Copas free-range organic bronze game hung turkey
Highly commended: Costco standard white turkey
Best Seasonal Product – Christmas
Gressingham easy carve duck with pork, oranges and apricot
Best Foodservice Poultry Product
The UK Foodhall cooked chicken breast fillet
Foodservice Operator of the Year
Mitchells & Butlers
Retailer of the Year
Asda