Curraghchase Free
Range Pork
wins Great
Taste Award
13 August
2008
Curraghchase
Free Range Pork
from
Kilcornan, Co.
Limerick
is
celebrating
after winning a
prestigious
Great Taste
Award. Curraghchase Free Range
Pork has been
presented with a
much-desired
(one star / two
star / three
star) Gold Great
Taste Award for
Sausages, White
Pudding and
Streaky Rashers.
The Great Taste
Awards, which is
organised by the
Guild of Fine
Food
and often
referred to as
the
Oscars of the
food industry,
is this year
celebrating its
15th
anniversary. A
Great Taste
Award is the
authoritative,
independent
standard for
Britain’s fine
food sector:
more and more
consumers
recognise the
gold & black
logo as the
benchmark for
independently
proven fine
food.
However, winning
a coveted Great
Taste Award is
much more than
recognition for
excellence; it
is one of the
most
powerful tools
to help grow
business
in the specialty
food sector.
The awards
generate huge
business
for those who
achieve the gold
standard. In
just three weeks
last September,
the excitement
created by the
2007 results
increased sales
to the tune of
?40,000 in 524
Guild members?
stores.
Over the past
five years, they
have generated
over ?.6
million
additional sales
and 19,900 new
listings.
Last year’s
Supreme Champion
winner was a
free-range pork
pie from Walter
Smith’s butchers
in Birmingham.
Before Walter
Smith’s won the
Supreme Champion
award, pork pies
made up less
than 1% of their
sales but they
now represent
over 10% and
their pies are
now sold through
Selfridges.
The Great Taste
Awards judging
standards,
devised by the
Guild of Fine
Food, are the
most rigorous in
the UK. Every
entry is
blind tasted by
teams of experts.
By the time it
earns gold, it
will have been
assessed by at
least three
different teams.
All the judges?
comments are
made available
to producers. If
no gold is
awarded, they
need to know how
and why. This
year’s judges
include
Alex James,
farmer,
journalist and
bass player with
Blur,
Mark Hix,
the chef’s chef,
Charles
Campion
from Evening
Standard & The
Independent,
Tom
Parker-Bowles
of UKTV Food’s
Market Kitchen
and national
food journalist
Fiona
Sims.
Bob Farrand of
the Guild of
Fine Food, said:
“These
awards have been
running for 15
years now and
are a
recognised mark
of excellence
that consumers
can trust and
rely on.
“The winning
products have
been through
a
thorough judging
process
and we are able
to assure
consumers that
the Great Taste
Award logo,
which all award
winners can use,
signifies
genuine, proven
fine food. It’s
not just a
supermarket
premium
marketing slogan
that bears
almost no
relation to the
quality of the
food in the
packet.
?lt;/span>The
Great Taste
Awards reflect
what is
happening in the
fine food halls,
delicatessens
and farm shops
throughout the
UK and during
judging we
tasted some
fantastic
gourmet
delicacies from
all over the
world.?
