M&S premium beef joint from Linden wins national award

A premium beef joint developed by Linden Foods in Northern Ireland for Marks and Spencer Food has won the Best Meat Product, one of the main categories at this year’s annual Food Management Today (FMT) Awards.

The winning product, Mayfair of Beef, is a luxury Aberdeen Angus 30-day matured rib eye of beef tumbled in a bone marrow stock, wrapped around tender beef fillet for flavour and tenderness and smothered with beef bone-marrow butter.

The company said it was “delighted” to see the product successful, adding “this is not just a beef joint, this is an expertly cut, 100 percent British, traceable Marks and Spencer beef joint, and it tastes just as good as it looks!”.

The joint is the latest in a series of Linden products for M&S to achieve prestigious FMT awards over the past few years.

Linden Foods is a UK market leader in fresh meat processing, sourcing and processing top quality beef and lamb.

The company, based in Dungannon, county Tyrone, supplies a wide range of retail multiples including Marks and Spencer

The annual FMT Food Industry Awards recognise the hard work and excellence of food processors and manufacturers across the UK food sector as well as trade organisations, ingredients suppliers, machinery and equipment companies, people and training.

The 2021 annual FMT Food Awards ceremony was presented online this year for the first time as a virtual event.

The awards were in two parts. Readers of FMT were invited to vote in seven categories, while manufacturers and retailers nominated products for entry into one or more of the nine product categories which were judged by industry experts. The product categories for 2021 were judged at the test kitchens located at the Harper Adams Regional Food Academy.

FMT editor, Pam Brook, said: “These annual awards are eagerly anticipated and have become a great success story. They are truly unique and represent the highest standards in product, service and innovation across the sector. The awards offer a brilliant opportunity to recognise the work that is going on and the progress being achieved in so many areas.”

The awards included several voting categories and product categories, ranging from Food Manufacturer of the Year and Best Training Initiative to Best Red Meat Product and Best Bakery Product.

Products were also nominated by the food industry into multiple categories, including: Best Dairy Product, Best Bakery Product, Best Red Meat Product, Best Poultry Product, Best Frozen Product, Best Seafood Product, Best New Product Development and Best Free From Product.

The award-winning Mayfair beef joint from Linden for M&S