The Food and Drink Federation hosted its first annual awards dinner last night, celebrating the achievements of food and drink manufacturers across the UK.
Mondelez International, which this year brought manufacture of the popular Oreo biscuit to the UK for the first time, enjoyed three courses of celebration at the London-based awards ceremony last night.
The biscuits and snack food maker received the Health and Wellbeing Award as well as the prestigious President’s Award for its all-round business performance and particularly strong exports. It also proudly watched it apprentice Paul Morgan take the stage in order to seize the Apprentice of the Year trophy.
Other categories saw a diverse range of food and drink manufacturers, both large and small scoop accolades for excellence in innovation, exports, rapid growth, community, environment and more.
There were also individual awards for Food Scientist of the Year and engineer of the year. The former was bestowed on Tom Hollands of Raynor Foods who successfully solved the company’s “soggy sandwich problem”.
Journalist and broadcaster Katie Dereham who acted as compare for the wards said judges found it most difficult to select a winner for the Engineer of the Year award, but eventually chose Ian Rigby of Pepsico.
The Manufacturer magazine sponsored the Innovation category this year. With food and drink companies launching an average 8,000 product each a year, the category was hotly contested. Apetito Foods was triumphant however, being commended by judges for the development of its range of Dysphagia Foods for the elderly and those who have problems swallowing.
A full list of winners is bellow and the original shortlist can be viewed here.
Winners of the Food and Drink Federation Awards 2013
Company Awards
Community Award: Midcounties Co-operative
Innovation Award: Apetito Foods
Health and Wellbeing Award: Mondelez International
Exporter of the Year: United Biscuits (large business category) and Elmgrove Foods (SME category)
Good Employer of the Year: Britvic Soft Drinks
Environmental Leadership: Nisa Retail and DHL Supply Chain (large business category) and Raynor Foods (SME category)
Growth Business Award: Charlie Bigham’s
Individual Awards
Food Scientist of the Year: Tom Hollands, Raynor Foods
Engineer of the Year: Ian Rigby, Pepsico
Apprentice of the Year: Paul Morgan, Mondelez International
