Alternative Meats Scoop Top National Food Award

Shropshire-based Alternative Meats has been honoured with one of the top prizes at this year’s Great Taste Awards.

The prestigious Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Foods were presented at The Royal Garden Hotel, London, on Monday 5 September.

Over 7,400 food and drink products were judged over an intense two-month period involving more than 350 experts including key buyers, retailers, chefs and food writers who blind tasted entries to ensure they were fairly and independently assessed.

The Great Taste Awards give accolades of One Gold Star, Two Gold Stars and Three Gold Stars. Alternative Meats, Wem, won the highly coveted Best First-Time Entrant Award receiving a Golden Fork and certificate. They were eligible for this award having gained a total of seven stars on their first time of entering the awards.

Alternative Meats, won the maximum Three Gold Stars for its Welsh Wagyu Fat - one of only 35 producers of the 7,400 entrants to gain this accolade. Two Gold Stars were awarded for its Cumbrian Rosé Veal Fillet and One Gold Star for both its Welsh Wagyu Minute Steaks and its Welsh Wagyu Rib Eye Steaks.

Wagyu is a breed of cattle native to Kobe in Japan. Alternative Meats source its Wagyu from farmer Ifor Humphreys who has been breeding them in Montgomeryshire since 2006.

Alternative Meats, which is a member of food group HEART of ENGLAND fine foods (HEFF), is owned by business partners Jeanette Edgar and Rachel Godwin.

“We are thrilled to be able to associate ourselves with the Great Taste Awards. The Gold Star labels are so well known to foodies all over the UK that we are sure the awards will raise the profile of both the Cumbrian Rosé Veal and the Welsh Wagyu,” said Jeanette.

“The Wagyu Fat is a brand new product which we are hoping to launch in October, it is very similar to goose fat so is perfect for roast potatoes, pies and pastries.”

Alternative Meats source more unusual meats and supply on a wholesale basis direct to butchers shops, farm shops, restaurants and hotels and also nationwide to the home consumer by mail order through their website. British meats include Rosé Veal, Wagyu Beef, Kid Goat and Wild Boar with more exotic meats imported from across world such as Ostrich, Kangaroo, Crocodile, Bison and South African game meats.

For more information visit www.alternativemeats.co.uk.