the great new ealand sausage competition 2020 2020 competition report the great new ealand sausage competition 2020 0274 950 040 2020 COMPETITION OVERVIEW The Great New Zealand Sausage From here, the top scoring entries in Competition has been running since each category were awarded a bronze, 1994, providing an opportunity for silver or gold medal. Any entries which sausage makers to gain publicity based scored within five percent of the on the quality of their product. In top scoring sausage in the category 2020 we received a record number of it was entered, received a highly entries - 605 entries from 99 retailers, commended certificate to recognise compared with 515 entries from 96 their achievement. retailers in 2019. The gold medal winning sausages from 2020 saw the introduction of a Burger each category were mystery shopped Pattie category. This category proved prior to the Supreme Award judging. so popular that it ended up being split A panel of five judges had the very into two with a category for classic style important job of judging the gold medal patties, and those with added flavours winning products to determine the and ingredients. 2020 Supreme Award winner. Entrants were required to send 6-8 To celebrate a decade of the Great NZ sausages/patties for each entry to Sausage Competition, and to recognise Retail Meat New Zealand. The entries the achievement of those who have were repackaged and anonymously seen success year after year, we coded before being frozen (excluding announced and awarded the ‘Producer the Continental Ready to Eat and Heat of the Decade’ - the entrant who has n’ Eat categories which were vacuum won the most medals over the past ten packed and refrigerated) in preparation years. A scoring system was developed for the category judging days, which with points awarded for a Supreme took place over five days in Auckland. or People’s Choice win, and medal The judging panel was made up of a placings. combination of current and retired butchers, chefs and food writers, with a All results were embargoed until the total of 30 judges required over the five awards ceremony, which this year days. took place online due to Covid-19. A pre-recorded video was released on During the category judging, each Tuesday 27 October and was viewed entry was judged by three judges (one by over 800 entrants, RMNZ members, being a butcher), in both uncooked and sponsors, and the wider industry. cooked form. Consistency of judging was key, with the same panel of judges judging each category. We’re really thrilled, we can’t believe “it. We’ve been striving for gold for years and now not only do we have gold, but we have won the Supreme Award as well. - Lucia Rodrigues, Grey Lynn Butchers ” P R O U D T O B E 1 0 0 % N E W Z E A L A N D O W N E D A N D O P E R A T E D F O R O V E R 3 0 Y E A R S . S M A R T , I N N O V A T I V E A N D P R O G R E S S I V E L Y E N V I R O N M E N T A L L Y R E S P O N S I B L E P A C K A G I N G S O L U T I O N S . W W W . C A S P A K . C O . N Z + 6 4 9 4 2 1 9 0 1 9 @ C A S P A K _ N Z 2020 SPONSORS The Great New Zealand Sausage Competition would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Thank you to our 2020 sponsors Big Chill, Caspak and Kiwi Labels our Gold Elite sponsors, and Alto, Cabernet Foods, Dunninghams and Kerry Ingredients our Category sponsors. with thanks to our sponsors gold elite sponsors category sponsors GENERAL COMMENTS We were delighted to receive a record This year we were delighted to once number of entries with 605 entries from again be able to offer any left over 99 entrants. The Traditional category sausages and patties not used for continues to attract significant entry category judging to Everybody numbers, this year with 74 entries in Eats and Kiwi Harvest food rescue that category. We also saw a huge organisations, which feed people from number of entries into the Continental all walks of life. Fresh category, and the newly introduced Burger Pattie categories. Overall the standard of the products, On the flip side we noticed a decrease especially those at the top end, is in the entry numbers in the Flavoured, continually improving which makes Precooked and Flexitarian or Meat-Free judging more and more difficult. Many categories. of our judges commented that they found it difficult to find fault from a In preparation for the 2020 competition technical perspective with the inner and Retail Meat NZ set up a working group outer appearance receiving top marks. to discuss a number of things including, The differences in marks often came but not limited to, categories, judging down to attention being paid to details and on pack labels. The group was such as seasoning levels or overall made up of representatives from across balance of flavours in the sausage. the industry including independent butchers, small goods manufacturers, The Supreme Award judges had a tough supermarkets and a competition judge. time determining the 2020 Supreme As a result of these discussions we Award winner, with judge Kathy introduced a number of new categories Paterson commenting the top sausage to the 2020 competition - Heat n’ Eat was “really delicious, beautifully made for those products which are simmered and everything was in harmony”. in water; Flavours of the World for Thank you for entering the 2020 Great fresh and precooked products which New Zealand Sausage Competition have a strong link to a specific country and we look forward to receiving your or region, excluding Europe; and entries in 2021. Gourmet Poultry, which replaced the Poultry category. In addition 2020 saw the introduction of an open category for mince meat burger patties. This category proved very popular and was split into two. We also took stock of other mince based products being produced by our entrants including koftas, meatballs and grinds, with these categories potentially being introduced in 2021. WASTE MANAGEMENT This year we continued with our Ice cream containers (HDPE2) are used focus on waste management and to store the sausages and these were minimisation. We did this by identifying sent for recycling. Any left-over cooked the types of waste the event produces, and raw samples of the sausages used then adopting a strategy, where for judging were put in food waste possible, to swap this out for something bins for composting and the left-over that may cause less waste, by being sausages were collected daily by recycled or reused. This was done at Everybody Eats and KiwiHarvest. each stage of the competition. Everybody Eats is a food rescue On sending your entries to us, much of programme with a mission to reduce the packaging was recyclable - clear food waste, food poverty and social plastic and cardboard meat trays, isolation. With the help of volunteer chilltainers and soft plastics, were all chefs, they create restaurant quality recycled where possible. Foam trays food served up weekly, using the pay- are not recyclable and these were as-you feel model, allowing those in sent to landfill. Poly boxes are also not need to eat some nutritious meals for recyclable, however they have luckily very little. KiwiHarvest collects good been re-purposed to be used again. food before it goes to waste and gets it to those in need. This reduces the We noticed that gel ice packs work negative impacts of food waste on our best to keep the precious cargo safe environment by redistributing excess and cool. Bags of ice can melt with food and helping to create lasting the water leaking through making the positive social change by nourishing packaging very wet, and in some cases those in need. The sausages collected affecting the condition of the product. by these two organisations were used to feed over 600 people. Our recommendation for a more environmentally friendly way to send us your entries would be to use the fully recyclable clear plastic meat trays (PET1) or newer cardboard meat trays, transported with gel ice packs in chilltainers. Chilltainers are a great substitute for poly boxes as polystyrene is not recyclable. WASTE MANAGEMENT ENTRIES RECEIVED » IN 2020 THERE WERE 605 ENTRIES IN THE COMPETITION. THESE WERE SPREAD OVER THE 17 CATEGORIES AS FOLLOWS: 41 entries - Alto Packaging Beef 38 entries - Dunninghams Pork 12 entries - Kerry Ingredients Pre-Cooked 11 entries - Heat n’ Eat 13 entries - Big Chill Flavoured 7 entries - Flexitarian or Meat-Free 66 entries - Continental Fresh 35 entries - Continental Ready-To-Eat 48 entries - Flavours of the World 24 entries - Black Pudding/Rounds 73 entries - Caspak Traditional 54 entries - Kiwi Labels Gourmet Beef 43 entries - Cabernet Foods Gourmet Pork 25 entries - Gourmet Varietal 46 entries - Gourmet Poultry 32 entries - Burger Patties 37 entries - Classic Burger Patties 2020 winners PRODUCER OF THE DECADE 2011 - 2020 PETER TIMBS MEATS, CHRISTCHURCH 2020 SUPREME AWARD WINNER GREY LYNN BUTCHERS, AUCKLAND Isterband Medallists » GOLD MEDALLISTS BY CATEGORY: Alto Packaging Beef category: Esk Valley Meats, Napier, Beef Brisket Dunninghams Pork category: Miller’s Meat, Waipu, Pork Kerry Ingredients Pre-Cooked category: Glasseye Creek Sauce Company, Christchurch, Spit Roast Pork Heat n’ Eat category: The Kiwi Butcher, New Plymouth, Saveloy Big Chill Flavoured category: Foodstuffs South Island, Pam’s Lamb Madras Flexitarian OR Meat Free category: Westmere Butchery, Auckland, Lamb, Pumpkin, Feta & Chives Continental Fresh category (TIE): Swiss Deli, Auckland, Mediterranean Grey Lynn Butchers, Auckland, Isterband Continental Ready-To-Eat category: