Norway’s Salmon Brands has been awarded the top prize in the 15th annual Seafood Prix d’Elite new products competition at Seafood Expo Global.
The top award for best new retail product was given to Salmon Brands for its entry, Salmaraw. This ready-to-eat sashimi kit provides 90 grams of fresh salmon sashimi with sachets of ponzu sauce and sesame seeds, and a specially designed eating utensil. The product is presented in a unique airtight and leak-proof pack that beautifully displays and preserves the high quality of the salmon. The judges particularly noted that this product was very well conceived and executed from start to finish.
In addition to the grand prize, the judges also gave five special awards:
Salmaraw from Salmon Brands was also presented the Seafood Prix d’Elite special award for Originality.
The special prize for Health & Nutrition was awarded to Marine Harvest of Brugge, Belgium for its product, Duo Norvégien au Four. The naturally healthy combination of cod wrapped in thin slice of salmon is packed in an oven-ready aluminium tray and gives the consumer an easy way to serve an elegant seafood preparation at home.
The Big Prawn Company of Melton Constable, England was awarded the special award for Convenience for its product Seafood Rarebit. A seafood take on a classic Welsh dish, this frozen retail product offers two pastry cases filled with king prawns and topped with a sauce flavoured with English cheddar cheese, mustard and spices. The topping melts down over the prawns and into the pastry during cooking.
The Big Prawn Company was also presented the special award for Retail Packaging for its product, 2 Crayfish Thermidor Bakes. Designed for special holiday occasions, this product features twin ramekins filled with crayfish tails in a creamy thermidor sauce flavoured with white wine, shallots and mustard, then topped with a ciabatta Grand Padano cheese breadcrumb. The package is elegantly designed with full-colour photos of the prepared dish and a clear window to see the ramekins, which are covered with clear plastic domes. The package provides complete information for the consumer on nutrition, ingredients, product origin, preparation, and package disposal.
Rockabill Shellfish Limited of Balbriggan, Ireland was presented with the special award for Seafood Product Line for its “Something Fishy” line of seafood infused butters. Offered in Sweet Onion, Dulse and Asian Infusion flavours, the products combine Irish butter with freeze-dried and milled seafood protein, dried seaweed and seasonings. The result is a culinary butter that provides the savoury deliciousness of “umami” to both enhance and complete the flavours of prepared dishes. The products can be used to flavour sauces, finish risottos, pastas and rice dishes, or to spread over seafood before or after cooking.
At the discretion of the judges an award was not given this year for best new foodservice product. Although the judges noted some positive aspects of the products entered in the category, they felt that in many cases the information provided by entrants was incomplete, and therefore it was not possible to choose an overall winner in the category.
The winners of the 2015 Seafood Prix d’Elite were chosen from a field of 37 finalists representing 11 countries.
