I was recently honored to be invited to judge at the Quality Food Awards 2016 UK.

The judging panel is made up of industry experts and the head honcho’s for various businesses within the food industry. Whether that be big scale food suppliers, recipe developers for large brands or even the odd private chef and author (gulp!).

The Quality Food Awards have been around for many years and hold a lot of prestige in terms of producers and supermarkets winning awards.

There are a lot of categories to judge. From frozen and fresh fish, vegetables, microwave meals, do-it-yourself meals, fresh and frozen meat to snacks and crisps.

I opted for fish and meat category (as I love them!). The room is filled with industry experts and I must admit to being a little apprehensive. Many of the judges attending are also judges for various other prestigious awards (Food and Drinks Awards, Best Taste, etc.), but it was a cracking few days with some definite highs and lows..

Check out more of my news here.

The general set up is all the major supermarkets (Waitrose, Tesco, Aldi, etc.) and some suppliers showcase some of their current products but also a lot of upcoming products they are interested in bringing to the market. So yes, as a judge you get a sneaky peek into what may be hitting our shelves in the coming months.

There were probably about 15 judges present in the room. As judges we taste everything and objectively review and finally give a verdict on every item. The verdict is an overriding consensus of all the judges comments and verdicts put together.

Interestingly, most of the time there was total unison in terms of opinion – good food, is good food either way. Rarely was there much difference in consensus.

I can’t say much more than that due to confidentiality. But what I can say is the awards ceremony is happening in November 2016 when we announce the various winners for each category which I’m really looking forward to.

I’ve also heard there is free drinks 🙂