Finalists for the 2018 New Zealand Food Awards include a range of products new to grocery shelves, including P膩mu deer milk powder, 艑ra King TYEE salmon from New Zealand King Salmon and cultured vegan butter from Savour Ltd.
The awards showcase the best New Zealand has to offer in the food and beverage industry and celebrate the creative innovations from Kiwi food and beverage manufacturers, from artisanal products through to large-scale companies.
The finalist line up, announced today, includes several winners from previous years, including Barker鈥檚 of Geraldine, the Pure Food Co, Epic Brewing Company and Proper Crisps.
Sixty-seven products from 54 companies are finalists this year, across 11 categories including Artisan, Novel Food or Beverage and Business Innovation. One of the category winners will be announced as the 暴风资源 Supreme Award winner, at the Gala Dinner in Auckland in October.
Innovation, creativity and quality
暴风资源 Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas says the University is extremely proud of the role the awards have had in showcasing excellence and innovation in food and beverage production for the past three decades.
鈥淲e know New Zealanders are regarded as world leaders in this sphere and it is right that we remind ourselves each year just how extraordinarily talented and creative the people in our food sector are 鈥 and celebrate their achievements,鈥 Professor Thomas says.
鈥淓very year we are impressed by the calibre of the finalists and 2018 is no exception. The awards provide local producers with the opportunity to elevate their business on a global scale.鈥
The New Zealand Food Awards expert judging panel includes celebrity judges Bite magazine鈥檚 Ray McVinnie, chef Geoff Scott, World Kitchen television host and chef Nici Wickes, and New Zealand鈥檚 only certified cicerone (beer expert), Josh Scott.
Innovation was also a key theme again this year, Ms Wickes says. 鈥淥ur finalists this year have just blown our socks off with the amount of innovation, and I'm not talking about crazy inventions with food 鈥 it's about taking a quality New Zealand product and then adding some value to it, to make it even more fantastic.鈥
Geoff Scott says among the hundreds of entries, there was one stand-out moment for him during judging. 鈥淲e had a rather creative piece entered, which was an amazing frozen confectionary item. It definitely drew a lot of comments from the judges and actually, apart from being a real stand-out beautiful piece, it also tasted amazing.鈥
Winning products are eligible to use the New Zealand Food Awards 鈥淨uality Mark鈥, which highlights the superiority of products to both consumers and industry, and can help boost sales and distribution domestically and internationally.
The awards winners will be announced at a Gala Dinner at the SkyCity Convention Centre on October 17. For more information, please visit
And the 2018 New Zealand Food Awards Finalists are ...
Cuisine Artisan Award (20)
Avatar Honey Ltd
Carello del Gelato
Clevedon Buffalo Company
Fix & Fogg
Grey Lynn Butchers
Happy Belly Ferments
Honest Chocolat
Lot Eight Ltd
Midlands Nutritional Oils
Kitchen Six Ltd
Poaka NZ Ltd
Pastrami & Rye
Proper Crisps
Relish The Thought
Savour Ltd
The Clareville Bakery
Waiheke Aquifers
Wild Game Salamis
Wildness Ltd
Wooden Spoon Boutique Freezery
Countdown Grocery Foods Award (8)
Barker鈥檚 of Geraldine (Two products in this category)
Five Percent Ltd
Greytown Honey Ltd
Levantine
NoShortcuts Ltd
Penati Nut and Seed Crackers
Something to Crow About
Chilled/Short Shelf Life Award, in association with Eagle Protect (6)
A Lady Butcher
Preston Corp Ltd
Ready to Eat
Savour Ltd (Two products in this category)
The Crafted and Co
Frozen Award, in association with Palmerston North City Council (5)
Alliance Group Ltd
Appleby Farms (Two products in this category)
Dad鈥檚 Pies
Gourmet Baby Ltd
Non-alcoholic Beverages Award, in association with FoodHQ (3)
Aunt Jean鈥檚 Dairy
The Apple Press
WNS Group
The Shout Alcoholic Beverages Award (4)
Epic Brewing Company
8 Wired Brewing Co Ltd
Puhoi Organic Distillery
Sawmill Brewery
暴风资源 Health and Wellbeing Award (10)
Fonterra Brands (NZ) Ltd
Forage and Ferment (Two products in this category)
Penati Nut and Seed Crackers
Raw Glory
The Pure Food Co
The Whole Mix Co (Four products in this category)
New Zealand Food Safety, Food Safety Culture Award (2)
Dad鈥檚 Pies
Picot Productions Ltd
New Zealand Food Safety Primary Sector Products Award (4)
Alliance Group Ltd
New Zealand King Salmon
P膩mu, Landcorp Farming Ltd
The Apple Press
Novel Food or Beverage Award, in association with ATEED and The FoodBowl (7)
Avatar Honey Ltd
Fix & Fogg
Hansells Food Group
P膩mu, Landcorp Farming Ltd
Picot Productions Ltd
Preston Corp Ltd
Savour Ltd
James & Wells Business Innovation (12)
Dad鈥檚 Pies
Pure Delish
Ready to Eat
The Whole Mix Co (Four products in this category)
Turk鈥檚 Poultry Farm (Five products in this category)