SA foods under the spotlight

Indigenous bush food, mussels ready for the pot and hand-made gourmet cheese highlight some of the locally made delights on offer in this year’s SA Premier’s Food Awards.

Finalists for the awards, announced today by Acting Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister, Pat Conlon, highlight some of the most creative and innovative leaders in the state’s food sector.

Mr Conlon said the finalists represented a broad cross-section of the industry from traditional beef and seafood through to bush gourmet foods and hand-made cheese.

"The awards provide a benchmark to which all South Australian food businesses can aspire and celebrate an important industry that contributes to the economic and social fabric of our State," Mr Conlon said.

According to the judges who included industry and government representatives and past award winners, this year’s awards have also been the highest quality in their 10-year history.

All winners and this year’s Hall of Fame inductee will be announced at the awards night hosted by Premier Mike Rann on Friday November 16 at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Mr Conlon said the steady growth of the SA food industry was reflected in the strong number of award nominations and diversity of selected finalists.

"This is exactly the type of growth we’re trying to achieve under the new SA Food Plan by targeting our high growth business in order to achieve the target of 8% annual growth in the value of finished food products," he said.

"For example, Woodside Cheese Wrights, a multiple winner in the awards, has grown from a small producer to medium while Ferguson Australia a winner for medium sized business last year is now a finalist in the large category."

Master of Ceremonies at this year's awards will be Joanna Savill from TV's 'The Food Lovers Guide to Australia' with entertainment from Rhonda Burchmore who will be singing a special rendition of this year’s theme, 'There’s no business like food business'.

Finalists

KPMG Young Leader Award

Victoria Glaetzer, 32 is the founder of Barossa Valley Cheese Company a nationally recognised brand producing artisan cheeses. Victoria aims to promote consumer understanding of cheese and to develop consumer appreciation for the broader dairy industry and the farm people that it supports.

Stephan Knoll, 24 is the General Manager of Barossa Fine Foods, which specialises in smallgoods and meats through its five retail outlets. Stephan is the current Chair and a Committee member of Flavour SA, member of the Premier’s Food Council and actively involved in the Australian Meat Industry Council.

Peats Soil & Garden Supplies Environmental Sustainability Award

B.-d. Farm Paris Creek is a biodynamic farm of 7000 acres and over 750 cows producing 75, 000 litres of milk made into dairy products such as yogurts, quarks, milk, butter, cream.

KI Aquaculture Skills Centre has a Recirculating Aquaculture System to produce fresh Barramundi and Aquaponics resulting in salad and herbs.

Outback Pride is a network of bushfood production sites on traditional Australian Aboriginal communities producing sauces, dried herbs and relishes.

The Food Forest is a model for sustainable land use in semi arid agricultural areas and offers among many things organically certified foods both raw and value added.

NAB Export Award

Barossa Olive Oil Company is behind the Ollo brand of olive oils, which are exported to USA, UK, China and Russia and available in 5000 stores globally.

Clean Seas Tuna produce Yellowtail Kingfish and Mulloway, which accounts for 60% of their sales through exporting to Europe, South East Asia and North America.

T&R Pastoral provides quality to more than 70 countries including the USA, Europe and Japan with brands including Clare Valley Gold beef and Murray Bridge Meats.

Food Adelaide Finished Food Awards

(Small)

Barossa Valley Cheese Company produce hand made artisan cheeses with specialty soft white mould and washed rind made from the finest cow milk.

Bushmin Farmed Rabbits supply quality rabbit products and have developed an innovative range of value added products including sausages, smoked rabbits and ham.

Buzz Honey are primary producers and wholesalers of honey with seven flavours, selling 100% of their honey under their own brand and exporting to Singapore, Indonesia and China.

Pendleton Estate produce Extra Virgin Olive Oils from the olives of over 20 000 trees to produce lemon pressed, basil as well as dukkahs, red wine vinegar and table olives.

(Medium)

Baylies of Strathalbyn are fine food producers of hand crafted gourmet cakes, biscuits, fudges and seasonal bakery lines exporting to Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Four Leaf Milling is one of the largest wholesale providers of grains in Australia and has diversified into their own range of value added products such as rolled oats, polenta, pearl barley and baby cereals.

Tutto Pasta offers a wide-ranging selection of the finest freshly made restaurants quality pasta dishes, sauces and pasta for hotels, caterers, gourmet establishments and selected retail outlets.

Woodside Cheese Wrights produce a range of goat and cow milk cheeses, specialising in handmade white mould cheeses selling to premium food markets such as restaurants, gourmet stores and farmers markets.

(Large)

Cocolat specialise in the art of chocolate indulgences and wicked desserts such as truffles, gelato, cookies, and crepes through two dessert cafes and two retail outlets.

Ferguson Australia provides premium quality fresh and processed seafood such as lobster medallions, lobster oil and lobster glazes to the UK, Hong Kong, China, Dubai and France.

Richard Gunner’s Fine Meats offers premium quality restaurant grade beef and lamb such as the Coorong Angus Beef and Pure Suffolk Lamb brands direct from the farm as well as through five Feast! retail outlets.

SARDI Innovation Award

Kinkawooka Shellfish has integrated innovation into every tier of the business, from grow-out and harvest, through to processing, product development, marketing and sales for their 'Pot ready mussels'.

Mexican Express developed an innovative Bag ‘n’ Box for their liquid cheese to meet the needs of a specific client overcoming OH&S issues, excess wastage and the required cooling control of the product.

Spring Gully Foods spreadable honey encompasses all the qualities of honey with the texture of jam with innovation in recipe formulation, technical challenges, variety and mass production.

San Remo Pasta New Product Award

Careme Traditional Pastry provide a range of hand crafted pastry dough made using traditional French methods. Their All Butter Puff Pastry separates into hundreds of fine flaky layers when baked to produce rich delicate leaves of delicious buttery pastry.

Kinkawooka Shellfish have set a new standard of excellence with their Pot ready mussels - live mussels, freshly plucked from the sea, sealed with a little sea water to retain the quality flavour and texture, as if they’ve just been harvested from the ocean.

Robern Menz one of Australia’s largest suppliers of dried fruit, glace fruit and confectionery offer a new twist on an old favourite with their Menz Choccy Snake, a soft jelly snake covered in a smooth creamy chocolate.

Spring Gully Foods is transforming the honey industry with its Leabrook Farms Blue Gum Honey Spread encompassing all the uplifting flavours of honey but in a jam like spread providing a mess free honey.

Rural Solutions SA Services to Industry Award

ABC TV 'The Cook and the Chef' is a cooking program with a difference, hosted by passionate presenters Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant the show has taken SA regional produce to the world and is a celebration of the State’s rural industry and rural life.

Jigsaw Media Solutions 'Sumptuous' magazine and television represents the seasons of food and wine showcasing the best assets of the State to a national and international audience establishing SA as the food capital of Australia.

Food and Beverage Development Fund SA Inc Workforce Development Award

AgriExchange is one of the largest producers and packers of citrus and table greens, investing in the workforce development of over 300 staff and 700 casuals through their motto 'we hire for character and train for skill'.

T&R Pastoral is a leading meat processing company and exporter employing nearly 1500 people with workforce development a key pillar of their business plan and the innovative 'Project Recruit and Retention'.