Welsh producers shine at farming awards
Welsh producers have enjoyed success at the prestigious BBC Food and Farming Awards ceremony.
The winners included cheese and yoghurt producer, Cosyn Cymru, who took the top prize of the evening, winning the UK’s ‘Best Food Producer’ award at the event , hosted at the International Convention Centre in Newport.
The other Welsh winners were Maasi’s café, which was named the UK’s ‘Best Streetfood, Takeaway or Small Eatery’. Meanwhile, the Vale of Glamorgan’s Peterston Tea beat stiff competition from fellow Welsh producers, Pembrokeshire Lamb and Velfrey Vineyard, to win the ‘Best Food and Drink Producer in Wales Award with BBC Cymru Wales’.
The BBC Food & Farming Awards mission statement, since its inception in 2000, is “to honour those who have done most to promote the cause of good food”, and the winners from Wales have proven they have what it takes to shine amongst the rest of the UK.
The awards were judged and hosted by presenters including Thomasina Miers, cook, television presenter and co-founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican restaurants, Jaega Wise and Dan Saladino from Radio 4’s The Food Programme, food presenter Leyla Kazim and Star Farmer Will Young.
Sheila Dillon, Presenter of The Food Programme, said “The BBC Food & Farming Awards are delighted to be celebrating this year in Wales. Especially at a time when the Welsh Government is committed to making farming and food within its borders a model for the rest of the UK.”
The Awards ceremony, which returned to Wales for the second time in its 23-year history, took place alongside Welsh Government’s flagship food and drink trade event, BlasCymru/TasteWales, which is also being held at the same venue.
Organised by Food & Drink Wales, hundreds of industry professionals from across the globe have gathered for the fourth edition of the event, which features two hundred new Welsh food and drink products being launched in what is expected to be a multi-million pound boost in sales for Welsh food and drink producers.
Welsh Government Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd, Lesley Griffiths, said: “Congratulations to Cosyn Cymru, Maasi’s Café and Peterston Tea on their success at the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
“Their commitment to producing high quality products is clear and I am pleased this been rightly recognised. I am proud of the hard work of all of our Welsh food and drink businesses and their desire to succeed is seeing the industry continue to go from strength to strength.”
