Gulfood Innovation Awards recognises 20 companies

The Gulfood Innovation Awards recognised 20 companies at a ceremony held at the Conrad Dubai.

The Innovation Awards, sponsored by Al Dahra, recognise and honour new and improved innovations and technologies being adopted by the 5,000 local, regional and international exhibitors participating at the exhibition.

Green Isle Foods from Ireland was crowned as Best Halal Food Company winner in one of the categories.

“We are delighted to receive this prestigious award for our Goodfellas halal frozen pizza. It is a great testament to the hard work and commitment of our team to developing a pizza range which appeals to consumers in the MENA region. The addition of our new doner kebab variant is another example of the innovative new product development and we look forward to continued success and growth in the frozen pizza category.” said Suzanne Conroy, Export Lead at Green Isle Foods.

Belgian Greenyards Frozen picked up the award for Best Frozen or Chilled Food. Commercial director retail and food service, Greenyards Frozen Belgium NV Frankie Vandermeiren said: “Our winning product is our convenience line which is premium, higher quality and based on market demand as customers prefer ready to use convenience products without conservatives and frozen into mini portions. It’s the ideal solution to avoid food waste.”

UAE companies also got in on the action on awards night, with Global Food Industries LLC (AL Batha Group) walking away with two awards for Best Fruit and Vegetable Innovation and Best Meat and Poultry Innovation.

General manager of Global Food Industries LLC (Al Batha Group) Jacek Plewa said: “Being a UAE-based brand, winning not one but two Gulfood Innovation Award brings industry-wide recognition, which resonates far beyond the borders of our operations.”

Other winners included New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra, which took home the accolade for 'Best Trade Stand between 40-90 square metres'. The stand is shared by Fonterra's business-to-business brands NZMP and Anchor Food Professionals.