THE IRISH QUALITY
FOOD & DRINK Awards 2015 FINALISTS Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards 2015 irish.qualityfoodawards.com
The shortlisted products for the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards final have been announced!
organised into two sections: Quality Food Awards – products for the multiple and independent grocery retail market; and Quality Drink Awards – alcoholic drinks for the retail sector.
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asy Food is delighted to be the consumer-media partner of the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards again this year. We are huge fans of these awards because they celebrate the best of Irish ingredients – which is the very foundation on which Easy Food is built. Following three weeks of judging over 1,000 entries, the shortlisted products for the 2015 awards have been announced! This was also the first year for the Irish Café Quality Food and Drink Awards, which were established to recognize the increasing demand for quality but affordable own-label and branded ranges in the Irish café industry. What are the Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards? Now in their third year, the IQFAs set out to recognise excellence in food and drink product development from a wide variety of companies across Ireland. The awards themselves are
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Who can enter? The awards were open to all food and drink retailers, producers and manufacturers across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. How does a product make it to the shortlist? Panels of experts from across the food and drink industries gathered to judge different categories at Dublin Institute of Technology’s School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology, where they discussed and rated each product entry. Over 350 products across 85 different categories made it to the prestigious shortlist this year, all with a chance to win at the September awards ceremony in Dublin’s Mansion House. Tesco Ireland Small Producer of the Year Five products have been shortlisted for this prestigious award: Kari Tropical (Spice Devils) Lemon Curd (Crossogue Preserves) Madagascan Vanilla Greek Style Yoghurt (Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt) Orange and Almond Cake (Wildberry Bakery) Organic Green Tea Chai (Solaris Tea)
In addition to the award, Tesco Ireland will provide the winner with a prize of €2,500 and a place on the next Tesco Taste Bud supplier development programme run in partnership with Bord Bia. Since its launch in 2012, nearly 70 Irish food and drink companies have joined the supplier development programme, recording over €30 million worth of sales in Tesco stores. The winning small producer will receive mentoring from the Taste Bud team and participate in a seven-month programme of workshops helping the company to secure, grow and maintain a listing with Tesco. The awards are also sponsored by the Coeliac Society of Ireland, who played an important role during the stringent judging process of the ‘Free From’ categories, Dairymaid and Invest Northern Ireland.
For the full list of shortlisted products or more information, visit irish.qualityfoodawards.com. IrishQualityFoodAwards @IrishQFAs #IQFA
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20/08/2015 09:57