Meat Industry Recognises Mey Selections As The Best

5th December 2006

4 December 2006: The Mey Selections winning team scooped the Best New Beef Product Award for their recently launched Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Mey Selections Meatballs.

At an awards dinner and presentation ceremony at London's Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, the prize was accepted by Anna Grundy and Amy Brech (Product Development) from Sainsburys, Dermot Slade, Development Chef at Dunbia, and John Strak, Managing Director of North Highland Products Ltd.

Commenting on the Award, Dermot Slade said, "These meatballs, sold in Sainsburys Ready Cook Range, are a tasty and flavourful product and it is wonderful to see that the industry recognises their quality. We have more ideas on how to extend the range of value added products using Mey Selections meat and I hope that this award is the first of many more."

John Strak added, "It's another great night for Mey Selections and the North Highlands - our second industry award this year. Our quality meat is being used to produce a value-added product and one that farmers in the North Highlands can be proud of. This award is the result of a lot of hard work by Sainsburys, our meat processor Dunbia, and the team at North Highland Products. This is a wonderful start to the Christmas period."

He emphasised that North Highland Products would continue to seek to develop new dishes using non-prime cuts of meat. Other products, extending the brand's range into new food areas, are also in the pipeline.

The meatballs, using non-prime cuts of Mey Selections beef in an authentic tomato and smoky bacon sauce with added Parmigiano Reggiano, have been successfully developed by Dunbia, the Mey Selections meat processor. They come 12 to a pack, and are sold in a ready-to cook container with the sauce and cheese in separate sachets.

Now in its seventh year, the Meat Industry Awards are the only industry-wide awards recognising excellence across the UK meat industry.

Commenting on the 2006 Awards, organiser Mandy Parker said: "This has been another terrific event for the British meat industry and we can be justifiably proud of the standards achieved by our winners, which not only sets the pace in the UK but across the EU and beyond. It is often fashionable to knock the UK meat industry. However, sales continue to grow, vegetarianism is in decline and the industry is a major employer
worth billions to the economy. With 97 per cent of consumers still eating meat the industry keeps on going from strength to strength".

The dinner was attended by 400 guests and sponsored by most of the major meat promotional bodies operating in the UK including The Danish Bacon & Meat Council, English Beef and Lamb Executive, Hybu Cig Cymru/Meat Promotion Wales, The British Pig Executive and the British Meat Processors' Association.

In the photo -
L-R: Brian Turner (television chef and presenter for the evening), Anna Grundy (Sainsbury's product development), Dermot Slade (development chef, Dunbia, the Mey Selections meat processor), Amy Brech (Sainsbury's product development), John Strak (managing director, North Highland Products Ltd) and Bernie King (Weddel Swift, sponsors of the award).