Vinh Hoan Corporation of Vietnam won the Best New Product prize in the 2024 Seafood Excellence Asia Awards competition held in Singapore on September 4 for its Lucky Bag entry. The dumpling product, distributed frozen to retail stores in colorfully designed packaging, features a wrapper made of pangasius-based surimi filled with shrimp, corn, carrots and green onions. The Cao Lahn City, Dong That Province-based producer assures buyers that Lucky Bag “is not only delicious, nutritious and aesthetically pleasing, but also requires only about eight to ten minutes for steaming, boiling or pan-frying.”
Second and third place honors respectively went to Fisher Farms of the Philippines for its Corn and Coconut Breaded Shrimp, and to the Tzukuan Fisheries Association of Taiwan for Fish Soup-Gogi Flavor.
The winners were selected from a group of finalists from around the world. All entries were judged based on criteria including eating experience, packaging, market potential, originality and convenience.
A live judging took place conducted by a panel of high-volume seafood buyers and industry experts from the retail and foodservice sectors across Asia. The jurists included Emart from South Korea, ITM Alimentaire International from Thailand, and Jockey Fine Food Limited from Hong Kong.
The Seafood Excellence Asia awards is an extension of the Seafood Excellence awards featured at Seafood Expo North America in Boston and Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, which consist of buyers tasting, judging and selecting the best seafood products in the retail and HORECA (hotel/restaurant/catering) sectors.
