BOOM Awards 2017 Showcases Top Organic Products

The BOOM Awards celebrates the innovative and great tasting organic products in the market today, alongside the people who are leading the sector’s growth.

This year’s judging panel featured industry experts from a mixture of retailers, chefs, food experts and journalists. The awards were attended by over 200 guests from major retailers, press and brands to celebrate the finalists and winners.

The 23 organic food and drink categories include The Nation’s Favourite, a consumer choice award open to nominations from the public, and the best organic food outlets.

Some of this year’s winners included:

• Best Organic Alcoholic Drink: Dà Mhile Distillery – Dà Mhile Botanical Gin
Artisan farmhouse gin is made with 18 botanicals.

• Best Organic Confectionery Product: Booja-Booja – Hazelnut Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate truffles with sweet, roasted Italian hazelnuts.

• Best Organic Chilled & Frozen Product: The Tomato Stall – Organic Oak Smoked Isle of Wight Tomatoes with Extra Virgin Oil
Slowly roasted tomatoes, smoked over oak, then finished with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of Anglesey Sea Salt.

• Best of Organic Dairy Products: Organic whole Guernsey Milk, Abel & Cole
Fresh milk from Guernsey cows with a naturally brilliant golden colour.

• Best of Organic Meat, Fish & Poultry: Higher Hacknell Organic Meat – Sirloin Steak
All cattle for their beef is born, reared and butchered on the farm, which is also strongly dedicated to wildlife conservation.

• Nation’s Favourite Organic Product: Island Bakery – Lemon Melts
A zesty lemon biscuit with a sweet white chocolate coat.

• Best Organic Supermarket: Waitrose
Pioneering the sale of organic food in supermarkets, the brand now has one of the largest organic ranges in the UK (Waitrose Duchy Organic).

• Best Organic Large Online Retailer: Ocado
The world’s largest dedicated online grocery retailer.

• Best Organic Independent Retailer: Better Food
Making organic and local food accessible to all, while respecting and celebrating all in the food chain.

• Best Organic Farmer: Guy Watson at Riverford Organic
Riverford was one of the pioneering organic vegetable box schemes and was the first farm in the country to open to the public. 30 years later, they now deliver 47,000 veg boxes a week to homes around the UK from their regional farms.

Clare McDermott, business development director of the Soil Association Certification said, “It’s a positive time for organic. There are now more than 8,000 stores nationwide that stock organic products, from supermarkets to independents to coffee shops and high street restaurants. That growth is reflected in these awards as well, with more entries year on year and a threefold increase in votes for the Nation’s Favourite. The BOOMs are such an exciting way to showcase the fantastic array of organic products now available. Congratulations to all our winners.”

The Soil Association’s Organic Market Report showed, for the fifth year running, that organic continues to grow and more opportunities for retailers, businesses and producers are opening up. The UK organic market is now worth over £2 billion, up 7.1 per cent from last year, and looks set to continue. Shoppers are increasingly looking for organic and 82 per cent of UK shoppers are now buying at least one item of organic per year, up from 79.5 per cent in 2016.

The next key event in the organic calendar is Organic September. Building on the increased interest in organic following the BOOM Awards, 2017’s Organic September is set to be bigger than ever before, with more retailers, brands and food services participating. This year also marks the launch of a brand new Organic September Saturday, being held on 16th September.

For a full list of this year’s categories and winners, visit the BOOM Awards page on the Soil Association website.