To celebrate the British public’s enduring love of one of its long-standing national ‘foodie’ treasures, Bacon Connoisseurs’ Week is saluting the very best of British within the bacon community through its annual awards, which were announced yesterday at an exclusive industry lunch in London.

Butchers, Pub and Restaurant suppliers, Brands and Supermarkets across the country entered the Bacon Connoisseurs’ Week ‘Red, White & Bacon’ competition held earlier this year.

Over 220 quality bacon products were entered into the competition, which was split into four categories – Classic Dry Cure, Traditional Wet Cure, Smoked Cure and the NEW Rasher-nal Treasure award.

Four overall winners were announced

Butchers category
Denstone Hall Farm Shop & Café – Old Spot Beer Mustard with Staffordshire Honey Middle Bacon

Brands category
Case & Sons – The Connoisseurs’ Cure

Foodservice category
Southover Food Company Ltd – Southover Smoked Cooked Back Bacon

Supermarket category
Waitrose Free Range Unsmoked Dry Cured Back Bacon

Each was awarded the title of overall winner within their respective categories by Bacon Connoisseurs’ Week ambassador and fellow Rasher-nal Treasure, Angela Rippon at a lunch held at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand.

Speaking after the awards ceremony yesterday, Angela Rippon commented: “Bacon is a national treasure and a huge favourite of mine, so I was extremely honoured to be asked to present the award for The Red, White and Bacon Awards. There is such a vast selection of quality bacon cures now available in supermarkets, at local butchers and farm shops as well as on menus, that we were keen to encourage people to celebrate this versatile and delicious ingredient in their everyday meals.

“The simplest way for consumers to identify quality bacon when they are out shopping is to look out for quality and assurance on pack, such as the Red Tractor mark. That way they will not only be buying bacon, produced to high standards but they will also be supporting the very farmers who uphold such standards.”

ENDS

For a full list of the finalists please visit www.lovepork.co.uk

The Red Tractor Bacon indicates the quality and country of origin of the Bacon, that it has been produced to high animal wefare standards, is traceable back to Red Tractor farms and independently inspected at every stage of production.