Luxury and Innovation take centre stage at the 2024 British Frozen Food Awards

COOK, d’Arta, PEPPADEW® and itsu [grocery] won the top accolades at the 36th annual British Frozen Food Awards, which took place last night (Thursday 20 June) at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.

Hosted by the British Frozen Food Federation, the awards celebrate quality, innovation and success across the frozen food industry, and this time have been held in the milestone year of the industry’s centenary.

In 1924, Clarence Birdseye developed a method for flash-freezing food thus launching the frozen food industry. It has changed beyond recognition since and the British Frozen Food Awards present a great opportunity to highlight exciting new products being brought to the market.

The competition is split into two categories, retail and foodservice. The retail category is judged by 18 diverse consumer panels across the UK and professional chefs, who assess various aspects of the products. A panel of chefs then judge the foodservice entries.

Rupert Ashby, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation commented: “The quality and standard of the entries was superb across all the categories. Once the scores were cast, COOK bagged the ‘Retail Product of the Year Award’ for its Rhubarb and Custard Pudding and the ‘Foodservice Product of the Year Award’ went to d’Arta for its Cuisin’ Easy Mambonito.

“itsu [grocery] won ‘Retail Innovation Product of the Year’ for its Chocolate Bao Buns and PEPPADEW® took home the Foodservice Innovation Product of the Year’ for its PEPPADEW® Bites. The panels were so impressed by the high quality, taste and presentation of all four products.”

In the retail categories, Iceland scooped two Gold Awards and two Silver Awards. Fullers Food International took home the Gold and Silver Awards for Best Bakery and Morning Goods, Freiberger UK Ltd.won two awards in Best Pizza or savoury bread, and Agristo won the Best Potato Product Award.

For foodservice, Brakes won two Gold awards and four Bronze Awards, while Best New Ingredient went to Gerald McDonald & Co Ltd. for its Yuzu Juice, with Best Ice Cream going to Destiny Foods for its Artisan Ice Cream Mulled Wine Sorbet. Meadowvale Foods Ltd. won the Best Meat Main, and Paramount 21 won Best Fish Main with its Coquille St. Jacques.

Ashby added: “The frozen food industry has come so far in the last hundred years, and the award entries are a testament to that. I’m confident the frozen food industry will continue to thrive, with constant advancements and innovations being brought to the market.

“Using frozen food helps reduce waste, preserves nutrition, and no additives are needed in the products. It's already a great option for foodservice and retail sectors and with the current quality and innovation on show, the next 100 years of success for frozen food should be very exciting.'