Northern Irish Innovation takes Top Italian Food Award

Moyallon Guanciale from Hannan Meats in Northern Ireland was named Best New Ingredient in the prestigious Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association Awards (PAPAS) 2012, held recently in London.

The PAPAS award to the Northern Irish meat processor follows the recent success of Moyallon Guanciale being named Supreme Champion in the UK Great Taste Awards, the highly influential competition organised by the UK Guild of Fine Food.

Moyallon Guanciale is an unsmoked pork jowel, a pig's cheek that's dry-cured with a blend of herbs, sugar, peppers, spices, garlic, and red wine that's a richly flavoured ingredient for traditional Italian dishes.

The award for Hannan Meats, based in Moira in County Antrim, is the first ever won by a Northern Ireland company for Italian food.

Jilly Dougan, commercial director of Hannan Meats, commenting on the latest award for Moyallon Guanciale, says: "Winning this award for innovation in the PAPAS is a marvellous endorsement of the quality and flavour of our guanciale by the UK's leading Italian food organisation.

"This recognition will be extremely beneficial as we seek to grow sales of this unique and highly acclaimed product to Italian restaurants and foodservice organisations in Britain and further afield," she adds.

The company has received inquiries about its guanciale from leading chefs in Italy.

The PAPAS awards are held annually to reward and celebrate the continuing success and innovation of the UK's pizza, pasta and Italian food businesses.

Hannan Meats, formed in 1992, is now a significant UK supplier of speciality beef, bacon, pork and lamb to foodservice organisations including high-end restaurants in London and other parts of the UK.

In addition, the company, headed by founder and managing director Peter Hannan, has been growing its retail business and currently supplies Moyallon Guanciale to Fortnum and Mason in London.

The company is the only processor in Europe to dry age beef and other meats in a Himalayan salt chamber.

The Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association (PAPA) was originally formed in 1977 as the Pizza Association, but changed its name to include pasta and Italian foods in the late 1980s.

Today the association is the only formal trade body in the UK representing the broad pizza, pasta and Italian food and drink industry. PAPA members are also drawn from Italy and other parts of Europe.