400 guests turned out in style to celebrate Northern Ireland’s top food and drink companies at the 2022 Northern Ireland Food and Drink Awards. A total of 13 awards were presented at the gala ceremony, hosted by the BBC’s Mark Simpson in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast on Friday 11 March 2022.
Hosted by the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (NIFDA) and supported by principal sponsor firmus energy, the awards are widely recognised as a key indicator of quality and success for food manufacturers and processors, offering local companies an invaluable opportunity to showcase innovative, quality products in front of key customers and stakeholders.
This year’s awards were bigger than ever, with a total of 12 categories including new additions the Environmental Sustainability Award and Healthier Product Innovation Award. The four firmus energy Best New product awards were picked up by Dale Farm in the large company category with Dromona Lactose Free Sliced cheese, Genesis Bakery in the medium company category for its Meringue A Tang Biscake; while Hinch Distillery collected the small company category award for Hinch Whiskey, with Karri Kitchen Ltd named highly commended for Mango Chicken Curry. Cookstown-based Big Pot Co won the micro company award with Vegan Sweet Potato Soup, and received highly commended for its Vegan Butternut Squash and Chipotle Bean Soup in the same category.