The Northern Ireland headquartered Moy Park won the ultimate accolade in food and drink manufacturing, after first collecting an award for the Meat and poultry manufacturing company of the year earlier in the evening.
The firm’s achievements were recognised in front of hundreds of industry guests, as Moy Park’s director of operations Gary Leslie collected the top award from category sponsor Oghma Partners’ Mark Lynch. They were joined on stage by the awards host and star TV presenter Mark Durden-Smith.
£1.4bn turnover company
Headquartered at Craigavon in Northern Ireland, the £1.4bn turnover company employs 12,000 people at 14 processing and production facilities in Northern Ireland, England, France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland.
The FMEA awards’ independent judging panel – led by Paul Wilkinson, chair of National Skills Academy, praised Moy Park’s strong category leadership and development, together with its focus on training, sustainability and assessing environmental impacts. Moy Park had developed its own methodologies, made sure its team understood them and then gone to great lengths to assess their effectiveness.
The firm’s safety initiative Meerkat Way was described as “an inspired way of promoting best health and safety practises in busy working environments”.
‘It was the best all round entry’
When it came to the top award – the Food Manufacture Company of the year – the judges were unanimous in selecting Moy Park. The judges agreed: “It was the best all round entry, which ticked every box.” Whether measured by its category management, marketing and new product development, supply chain improvements, quality assurance, training or environmental stewardship, Moy Park was the clear winner.
“Its Meerkat Way safety programme captured perfectly the firm’s team spirit – unusual in a business with a workforce of more than 12,000 staff at facilities in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and France,” said one judge.
Meat category finalists
- Cargill
- Faccenda Foods
- Hannan Meats
- 2 Sisters Food Group
- Tulip
Also shortlisted in the Meat and poultry manufacturing company of the year, sponsored by Dasic International, were: Cargill, Faccenda Foods, Hannan Meats, 2 Sisters Food Group and Tulip.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Hall, group technical director of Bernard Matthews, won the coveted Food Manufacture Personality of the year title for his campaigning work to curb the spread of Britain’s number one cause of food poisoning – campylobacter.
Don't miss our roundup of who won which food and drink manufacturing Oscars on the big night.
Watch out for more highlights from the annual FMEAs, now in their 15th year, organised by the Food Manufacture Group – including full details of all the winners – in video and text reports. Also, catch up on Twitter coverage of the best night out in food and drink manufacturing at #FoodManAwards.
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