This year’s awards received over 300 entries, and the judging panel comprised of 10 elite industry personalities such as Khaled Ismail (Tetra Pak VP Communications - Europe, Central Asia, Middle East & Africa Region), Jochen Bischoff (Head of FMCG, Facebook) and Sunjeh Raja (Director & CEO, International Centre for Culinary Arts United Arab Emirates).
Hunter Foods, which won the Best Organic Product award last year, emerged triumphant once again but this time in a new category: The Best New Product Development award.
“We won the Best New Product Development award for our Mixed Tropical Fruit Chips, a product containing [four] different types of fruit, [including] baby banana, pineapple, cantaloupe and jackfruit,” said Ananya Narayan, Hunter Foods Managing Director.
“[Our company] is also moving the direction of better-for-you, [looking at] sodium levels and sugar levels, [as well as] moving everything away from canola and palm oil to a special type of sunflower oil.”
The other new category winner was Rahmani Group, for the Best Packaging (Design) Impact award.
“How we got the idea for this [product design] was when we saw a cosmetics company in Europe [use a similar design] to show its clients [samples or testers] of its products, and we decided to bring this over to food products,” explained the company’s Export Manager Omid Abouali.
The full list of winners is as below:
Most Innovative Soft Beverage: Eternitea (Collagen Drink) by Eternitea
Most Innovative Hot Beverage: 100% compostable pods, oxygen tight compatible with Nespresso Pro machine by Swiss Sustainable Coffee
Most Innovative Dairy Product: Choco Labneh by Pinar
Most Innovative Halal Food: Plant Protein, Pea, Kale & Quinoa burger by Global Food Industries
Most Innovative Baked or Confectionary: Americana Bakery (Chocolate, Creme & Feta Cheese) by Americana
Most Innovative Condiment or Sauce: Truffle Powder by Giuliano Tartufi
Most Innovative Frozen or Chilled Food: The Beyond Burgers by Zandbergen World'S Finest Meat/Beyond Meat
Most Innovative Organic Product: Organic Crunchy Bites Oven Baked Snacks by Dr. Klaus Karg
Most Innovative Health & Wellness Product: Probiotic Wellness Balls by Health Lab
Most Innovative Meat Or Poultry Product: Griller Nat Verde by Grupo Vibra
Best New Product Development [NEW]: Hunter's Gourmet Mixed Tropical Fruit Chips by Hunter Foods
Best Packaging (Design) Impact [NEW]: Pure Honey Sachet by Rahmani Group (Mani Food Development Co.)
Watch the video for more, and see the winners of the first six awards here.
![WATCH: Winners of Gulfood Innovation Awards 2019 tell all about their triumphant innovations [PART 1]](https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/resizer/v2/KUOWI3NGWZINXK3ZNTA7GREQZ4.jpg?auth=46cd27f9ddac93250060ee9901073e0928f147ef5423dc391ff916778460ba6d&width=294&height=165&smart=true)