SuperValu’s suppliers picked up an impressive 83 awards at this year’s Blas na hÉireann awards at the virtual ceremony on Saturday.
This brings the total number of awards won by SuperValu suppliers over the last four years up to 432 awards across SuperValu Own Brand, Signature Tastes and Food Academy.
Considered to be the ‘Oscars of the Food World’, the prestigious Blas na hÉireann awards celebrate and reward the very best tasting Irish food and drink products, and the passionate, committed producers who make them.
Following on from a successful year in 2020, this year was again a great success for Ireland’s largest grocery retailer, with SuperValu Own Brand and its exclusive brand producers picking up 32 awards– winning 7 Gold, 11 Silver and 12 Bronze.
Prestigious Awards
SuperValu award winners included two prestigious ‘Chef’s Larder’ awards.
These were won by McCormack Family Farms’ SuperValu Signature Tastes Growing Pea Shoots and Kepak’s SuperValu Beef Tomahawk Steak.
This highly regarded title is awarded for ingredients, specialist products or recipe staples that a chef would find to be a valuable part of their larder.
SuperValu Signature Tastes also took home four Gold for Signature Tastes Potato Gratin of Ballymaguire Foods, Signature Tastes Chocolate Yule Log of Couverture Desserts Ltd, Signature Tastes White Chocolate and Cranberry Bites of Carleton Cakes and Signature Tastes Whole Grain Mustard by Follain.
Other Gold Award Winners
Other Gold award winners included Carton Brothers Ltd’s SuperValu 48 Hour Marinated Irish Rotisserie Chicken, Manor Farm’s SuperValu Irish Free Range Whole Chicken and SuperValu Ham and Cheese Vol au Vent by Prestige Foods.
It was also a great year for SuperValu’s Food Academy producers who picked up 51 awards – 15 Gold, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze including Roll It Pastry (Meath), Filligans (Donegal), Isle of Crackers (Wexford), Cape Clear Distillery (Cork), Sushi King (Dublin) and Love A Little Sauces (Donegal).
Tipperary’s Tullahay Farm won ‘Best New Product’ and a Gold award for their Raspberry Bramble Fruit Flavoured Whey Drink. There were also four winners in the ‘Chef’s Larder’ category for Food Academy including Fancy Fungi Mushrooms (Wexford), Roll It Pastry (Meath), Olly’s Farm (Dublin) & Garryhinch Mushrooms (Offaly).
It was a great day for Fiona and Malcom Falconer of Wexford based Wild About who took home the coveted ‘Supreme Champion’ award, the top accolade in Blas na hÉireann.
Ian Allen, managing director, SuperValu said, “2021 has been yet another outstanding year for SuperValu at the Blas na hÉireann awards with a total of 83 awards: including 51 awards for our amazing Food Academy producers.
"It’s been another great win for our local suppliers and producers at a time when it’s more important than ever to support local and Irish businesses," he said.
We are immensely proud of our award- winning brands and it’s wonderful to see the suppliers and producers receive the recognition they richly deserve,” Allen added.
Irish Food Awards
Now in its 14th year, the Blas Na hÉireann awards is the biggest annual competition for quality Irish produce across the island of Ireland with thousands of products entered hoping to win Gold, Silver or Bronze Awards across 100 food and drink categories.
As Ireland’s largest retailer, SuperValu said it understands the importance of supporting local and is committed to supporting more Irish food producers than any other retailer and in the country.
2021 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. For more retail news click here. Click sign up to subscribe to Checkout.
