On 8 October, the winners received awards and presented their products, developments and solutions to the leading players of the Ukrainian food market during a closed meeting of food retail leaders held in Kyiv.
The VI international professional tasting competition Favorite Food & Drinks was a milestone. Alongside the tasting competition, the Food Industry Solutions Award for design and technical solutions for the food industry, hospitality and retail was held for the first time.
The Food Industry Solutions judging committee consisted of 11 highly professional and independent experts. Among them: Olga Serova, Head of Quality Control at MHP-Logistics, a branch of MHP PrJSC, Anna Tsilnytska, tester, product innovation specialist, Carlsberg Ukraine, Veronika HalajiD., Director of the IAC "Packaging", Yulia Koran, Head of Marketing, Galicia Trade LLC, etc. The chairman of the judging committee was Larisa Safonova, leading engineer of NTV SE Ukrmetrteststandart, Chairman of the Judges' Committee.
The nominees for the Food Industry Solutions Award are 12 companies, which presented 18 solutions, including two innovations - a transparent paper bag from Paperbag and an innovative eco-friendly flavour enhancer Ecoflavor from the food ingredients manufacturer Alma Veko Food
Much attention was paid to sustainability. "Univest Marketing presented an eco-friendly glass with a heat-embossed design for cold and hot drinks. Food Works, LLC presented coffee packaging made from recycled materials and the concept "Coffee and music can wake you up even if you are awake".
Ivan Giletsky, head of GiletskyTechnoCo, an international leading expert in the development and implementation of food safety systems, submitted to the judging committee an implemented project to develop technological solutions for a unique horseradish processing plant in Ukraine and received an award.
Other participants of the company's Food Industry Solutions include: Elikatny Smak, Smart Cooking System, Fine Market, Yarofruit
Composition of the independent and impartial tasting panel Favorite Food & Drinks was a record-breaking event: 25 representatives of the leading national and regional retail chains, convenience stores, petrol station retailers, marketplaces, associations, manufacturing companies, and research institutes took part in blind product tastings. Among them: NOVUS, Epicentre K, HACCP Eco-Market, Auchan Ukraine, ROZETKA, KLO, Metro Cash & Carry Ukraine, KOLO, GRADUS, Doyarochka, Alma-Veko Food, VARUS, BRSM-Nafta, Good-Market, UPG, Fine-Market, Carlsberg Ukraine and others. For the first time, the tasters of Favorite Food & Drinks were Konstantin Zhuk, QA Manager, Metro Cash & Carry Ukraine, Igor Bragin, President of the Association of Chefs of Ukraine, Victoria Ruban, Head of Fresh Department, A-Retail, KOLO chain, Yulia Boboshko, Assistant Professor at the Department of Wine Technology and Sensory Analysis, Odesa National Technological University, and international expert, Kateryna Zatornitska, CEO of ICS "Vistarcom" SRL of Velmart, Green Hills Market, Moldova, etc.
The nominees of the tasting competition Favorite Food & Drinks are 31 companies, including 4 retail chains that presented FMCG and their own products, as well as manufacturers, importers, farmers and craft producers. The tasting provided 192 samples. The participating companies provided products of national and own production, imported products, their own trademarks, craft and farm products. 95% of the submitted samples are Ukrainian-made. 28 samples - in-house produced. 48 samples - new developments. 6 of the samples are innovative.
According to the results of the tasting competition 15 titles received awards Grand Prix, golden awards received 156 of food and beverage names, silver - 20, bronze - 1.
What is interesting about the September tasting competition
It was at the tasting competition Favorite Food & Drinks The tasters were given the opportunity to be the first in Ukraine to taste innovative products and conceptually new developments.
CAPS FOOD SYSTEMS presented innovative developments of encapsulated desserts. The products of the "healthy food" direction are FreshAMA whey drink with orange juice represented by Firma Favor LLC (AMA TM) and ayran with copra.
New products launched on the market were presented: CupSoul - assorted teas (12 gold awards); KyivKhlib - cocoa bagels and straws with potatoes and onions; Aryaka LLC (ONUR TM) - ayran with mint.
Own trademarks and own products are provided by the chains: Auchan Ukraine, Velmart, Omega Varus LLC, VERSENY PLUS LLC,
Companies, Ukroliya, LLC Mantinga Ukraine and Yarofrut LLC provided products for the b-2-b segment (for the utility and industrial sectors).
Aryaka LLC (ONUR TM), which won the Grand Prix for the third time, and GI EF ES BP LLC, which won 5 Grand Prix and became the competition's record holder.
Craft producers took part in the competition: Private Gardens (ciders), Zelo (tea), and Mila Devyatko's Craft Bakery (marmalade). The competition also included products provided by the companies: Regno Italia UA, Elikatnyi Smak, Bakeri Food Investment LLC, NOVA IMPERIIA LLC, Lamb Products Plant LLC, CupSoul, Palko, Fabryka Tista LLC, DOCTOR PROTS, FOOD WORKS LLC, Agropererobka VTP LLC, TM Shchedryk, Mantinga Ukraine LLC, Yarofrut LLC, ZELO TM, and FOP Dobrovolskyi P.A, ABINBEV EFES UKRAINE PJSC, Yatran Meat Packing Plant ALC, Ukroliya LLC, Kyivkhlib, Igel Ukraine LLC, Dobra Vecheria & Zlata Pich, FAVOR, Vilnyansky Milk Plant LLC, Tatiana 2011 Farm, Zinka™.
Founder and project organiser Olena Sinitsyna notes: "Following the mission, Favorite Food & Drinks contributes to improving the culture of conscious food consumption to improve the quality of life and healthy lifestyle, as well as promoting the brand of Ukraine in the global food markets as a country supplying delicious, innovative, new, traditional and high-quality food products.
This is the sixth time the tasting competition has been held. During the previous competitions, from time to time, questions arose that went beyond tastings, but also related to labelling, packaging, technology, etc. How is a certain level of quality achieved? What does the packaging look like? How is the product stored? And many more such "how tos". All of this became the source and impetus for the birth of Food Industry Solutions - the Award for Design and Technical Solutions for the Food Industry, Hospitality and Retail."
Yulia Dombrovska, Head of Quality, Auchan Ukraine, said: "I recommend this competition, The award is for small producers who are willing and able to scale up and offer their customers the best products of the best quality. With this award, they will be recognised and be proud of their achievements".
"Competition Favorite Food & Drinks is very important today. Firstly, we, as a tasting panel, have the opportunity to improve our skills, and the producers have the opportunity to present their products and shorten their way to store shelves or restaurants. I like the competition because it is conducted properly, without any agreements. We, as tasters, do not know who the producers are or whose products are being submitted for tasting, so we can objectively evaluate the sample." speaks Nadezhda PidlisnaHead of Quality Department at ECO MARKET
Anna Tsilnytska, Tetester, Product Innovation Specialist, Carlsberg Ukraine, said: "First of all, I would like to thank the organisers of the competition because it is unique. I think there are very few similar competitions in the world. And I am very glad that we have such a unique opportunity in the Ukrainian market, because it is a very good practice for tasters to improve their sensory capabilities, for large manufacturers to get their products recognised, and for small craft producers too. It's also interesting for retailers, as they can expand their base of main suppliers of goods, which can be very useful, because the logistics situation in Ukraine is not at the best level. But in doing so, we can fill the need not only for basic but also for interesting, innovative products on the Ukrainian market. This is very much needed, and I believe that this is a support for our economy."
Exclusively, during the business part of the Closed Meeting of the Ukrainian Fudrynka Leaders, Tatiana Vlasenko, Head of Marketing at Univest Marketing, spoke about eco-friendly packaging that is gaining market share in Ukraine. Kateryna Shor, project manager, Green Dossier Information Centre; coordinator of OrganicInfo.ua, shared statistics and insights on the organic food sector in Ukraine. Anna Sargsyan, Deputy Director of the Educational and Research Institute of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Business and Oenology of ONTU, Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Department of Wine Technology and Sensory Analysis, sommelier, spoke about sensory analysis as a tool for the development of the food industry and retail. Daria Spirina, marketing manager of Döller Ukraine analysed global trends in the food industry, and Bohdan Leonov, Director of Development at Alma Veko, Food, has made a professional forecast of what the food of the future will be like. Alla KovalevskaCommercial Director of Auchan Ukraine, shared her practical experience of developing a responsible partnership in the Auchan Ukraine network, and Lina Strelnikova, project manager of the Merchandise Service, together with Anastasia Drobotun, and the national project development manager gave practical advice on how to clean up the retail space.
The award ceremony was followed by an informal meeting of tasters and participating companies, during which the participants had the opportunity to openly present the benefits of their products to tasters, invited guests, and the media, get to know them, discuss cooperation prospects, etc.
Objective. Favorite Food & Drinks - professionals can identify high-quality food and soft drinks by their organoleptic characteristics "blindly".
Consumers and business partners can trust the Favorite Food & Drinks labels on food and drink packaging because they have been rigorously assessed by highly professional, independent experts.
Look for the Favorite Food & Drinks mark on product labels and packaging.
Favorite Food & Drinks invites manufacturers from all regions of Ukraine to participate and put a well-deserved quality mark next to their brand.
Favorite Food & Drinks 2024 is grateful to our defenders - the Armed Forces of Ukraine - for the opportunity to do business with you. Every Ukrainian makes his or her contribution to support our defenders, and this year, Favorite Food & Drinks has done its part: UAH 100 for each of the tasting samples provided by the participants. UAH 20,000 was transferred to the HERMES Charitable Foundation, which takes care of the 12th Assault Brigade.
The best of the best - to the table!