Snowbird enjoys success at BPEX Foodservice Pork Sausage of the Year awards

The new product, a Gourmet Lincolnshire made to a fabulous traditional recipe, has a meat content of over 75%, and is fully cooked and frozen in the factory.

 

The supreme sausage won gold in the BPEX categories for Traditional Pork, and Innovative Pork sausages, silver in the Best Pub Pork Sausage class, and a bronze in the section for a Legendary British Banger.

 

The Gourmet Lincolnshire was also named as a finalist in the Traditional Pork sausage category, being one of just 15 from the 281 entries to be selected for presentation and tasting at the grand final at Butchers Hall, London.

 

Part of Vion Food Group, Snowbird foods specifies a single breed of pig because it delivers high meat yield, improved quality, total traceability, and absolute consistency. With just the right amount of fat, and an exciting blend of spices, Snowbird has created the perfect cooked sausage.

The pigs are all raised in one area on Red Tractor assured holdings.

 

The company also upgraded its original specification to require a significantly greater quantity of shoulder meat in the recipe, drawing one of the judges to comment that “these cooked sausages have come a long way in the last year”.

 

This year’s award results are seen as a breakthrough for fully cooked sausages, with the industry noting a quality upgrade and welcoming the convenience of a sausage which will microwave (in seconds) or oven-bake from frozen.

 

Commenting that fully cooked sausages have improved and are performing better than in the past, BPEX foodservice trade manager, Tony Goodger, said: “The quality has clearly been moved forward and the market is beginning to understand the savings in man hours afforded by the faster reheating times and the savings generated by the cutting of waste. This is thanks to being able to cook to order rather than guess the amount which might be needed”.

 

Mr. Goodger also welcomed Snowbird’s decision to improve consistency and traceability by exclusively using meat from a specific breed of pig drawn from a single Red Tractor approved source.

 

Snowbird managing director, Philip Paul, said the company had worked closely with its customers for years to deliver the quality of product they wanted, so it was a natural extension of this work to involve suppliers who were excited to be working as quality partners.

 

“As a leader in the fully cooked and frozen sausages market, we are really excited by this move to embrace the whole food chain, which sees pig farmers more deeply involved in the whole process of making higher quality sausages and customers welcoming the move,” said Mr. Paul.