Phillips Foods was awarded the Seafood Excellence Global special prize for Convenience for its Signature Lobster Cakes entry during the Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona on April 23. The Baltimore, Maryland, USA-headquartered company’s handcrafted cakes, distributed in frozen form to lock in freshness, feature lobster meat in a creamy base of egg white and breadcrumbs accented with zesty lemon, tangy Worcestershire sauce and other seasonings.
A second frozen entry, Lucky Bag (pictured below) from Vinh Hoan Corporation of Vietnam, received the Seafood Excellence Global award for Innovation. The product boasts six vibrantly colored dumplings made with pangasius surimi wrappers with colors derived from vegetables and fruits, such as yellow from pumpkin, blue from butterfly pea flour, green from spinach and spirulina, pink from dragon fruit, and orange from gac fruit. They are filled with pangasius surimi, shrimp, vegetables, and spices.
Multi X S. A. of Chile was presented the Seafood Excellence Global special award for Retail Packaging for its Latitude 45 Smoked Salmon Candy Bites. Made with skinless, boneless hot-smoked salmon, the bites balance salty, sweet and smoky flavors and are ready to eat right out of the pack. The recyclable package sleeve offers a wealth of information for consumers, including product benefits, Best Aquaculture Practices 4-star and kosher certifications, a full recipe suggestion, and a QR code for more recipe inspiration.
The SalmonChef assortment of hot smoked salmon with international flavors from Vega Salmon A/S of Denmark won the Seafood Excellence Global award for Best Seafood Product Line. Featuring exceptional branding and design, the range includes four flavors: Chinese 5-Spice, Thai Ginger, Chili & Lime, Spanish Sweet Citrus, and Mexican Ancho Chile.
French Companies Top Winners
Taking top honors among 40 finalists in the 2024 Seafood Excellence Global awards competition were Parcs Saint Kerber and Algolesko, both of France.
Parcs Saint Kerber was saluted for its Oysters Trio Saint Kerber entry, which is packed in a single retail box. The first variety is Saint Kerber’s historic European flat oyster, loaded with briny flavor balanced with a slightly bitter finish. The second is the powerfully briny Tsarkaya, a Pacific oyster with a subtle finish reminiscent of sweet almond milk. The third is the firm premium Saint Kerber with the typical briny flavor of the Bay of Mont Saint Michel.
Algolesko won the grand prize for Best HORECA (hotel/restaurant/catering) Product for its Wakame Pickles. A combination of crunchy wakame seaweed with citrus juice and zest, salt, and vinegar, the seaweed is sustainably farmed by the company on 350 hectares in a Natura 2000 protected area.
The judges for the competition were Chairman Juergen Pauly, manager of seafood purchasing with Globus stores in Germany; Raul Cervera, seafood purchasing manager for La Sirena stores in Spain; Jonathan Rotge, seafood purchasing manager for CORA stores in France; and Paula Merrigan, head of purchasing for Snowfox Group in the United Kingdom.
