Medalsfortwo Louthproducers atBlasawards
SUPERVALU, Ireland’s Leading grocery retailer, announced that its local Louth food producers won five Blas na hEireann awards at the 10th annual awards ceremony held in Dingle, Co. Kerry recently.
The Irish Food Awards is the biggest competition for quality Irish produce on the island of Ireland and SuperValu’s achievement this year is the most successful since the awards were established over a decade ago with 124 awards won.
Among the winners were Two Louth producers who picked up five awards between them for SuperValu’s Food Academy produce. Rafferty’s Fine Foods had an impressive two gold for their Sriracha Sea Salt Flakes and Garlic and Chilli Sea Salt Flakes, one silver for their Garlic and Chilli Oil and a bronze for their Stir Fry Marinade.
Meanwhile Dundalk-based producer Kookee won bronze for their Spotaí chocolate chip mix.
The prestigious food awards received over 2,500 product entries into the competition this year with those nominated hoping to take away a Gold, Silver or Bronze Award in over 100 food and drink categories – not to mention other prestigious awards such as the Supreme Champion 2017 and Best Artisan Producer 2017.
SuperValu is, and has always been committed to supporting local and Irish food suppliers – with 75% of everything on SuperValu’s shelves sourced in Ireland to the value of over €2.1 billion helping to sustain 30,000 jobs in the Irish economy. Winning these coveted awards at the most prestigious food awards in Ireland is a testament to SuperValu’s commitment to supplying the best quality food products to its shoppers across its award winning own brand and Food Academy range.
SuperValu’s Food Academy is a unique training programme in conjunction with Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Board which supports, nurtures and mentors’ small food producers across Ireland. Since it started, The Food Academy Programme has been a huge success winning a European Business Award for Innovation, with more than 350 Food Academy producers now selling their products in SuperValu stores around Ireland.
Martin Kelleher, Managing Director, SuperValu said, “We are delighted to have won a record 124 awards at the 10th annual Blas Na hEireann awards this year in the Gold, Silver and Bronze categories. It’s a real endorsement of the commitment and the passion from our producers Rafferty’s Fine Foods and Kookee for producing innovative, great quality products exclusively for SuperValu. It’s also been our best year since the inception of the awards, winning over 80 awards for our Food Academy range and 44 for our Signature Taste and own brand range - which is proof that we continue to invest in the best quality products at the very best value for our shoppers”.