Best supermarket for meat and fish revealed
A budget supermarket has retained food manufacturing and retailing magazine, The Grocer's, accolade due to its wide range of both everyday and special occasion products
ALDI has been crowned the best meat and fish retailer of 2018 for the second year in a row.
The budget supermarket has retained food manufacturing and retailing magazine, The Grocer's, accolade due to its wide-range of both everyday and special occasion products.
Previous winners over the past five years have included Morrisons, M&S and Tesco.
Aldi nearly had a clean sweep across The Grocer's individual product award categories with it scooping up 12 of the 16 awards.
These included award-winning day-to-day bargains.
For example, a six-pack of its award-winning bacon costs £1.89 (£8.59/kg). In comparison, luxury supermarket Waitrose charges £3.49 (£13.96/kg) for an eight-pack version of British-bred unsmoked back bacon.
The Grocer Supermeat & Fish Award winners 2018
The Grocer has revealed this year's top-rated meat and fish products.
Meat & Fish Retailer of the Year
Aldi
Best Bacon Product
Aldi Specially Selected British Unsmoked Back Bacon, £1.89 (£8.59/kg)
Best Fish or Seafood Product
Aldi Whitebait, currently £ 1.99 reduced from £2.29 (£4.98/kg)
Best Pie
Aldi Specially Selected Steak and Black Pudding Pie*
Best Poultry Product
Aldi Specially Selected Free Range Whole Chicken, £3.29 (£3.29/kg)
Best Product New to Market
Asda Butchers Selection Carolina & Memphis BBQ Wings, £5 (£3.57/kg)
Best Ready Meal
Iceland Mexicana Street Food – Chicken Tinga, £1.50 (£6.67/kg)
Best Red Meat Product
Whole Foods Market Dorset Crown Lamb Sirloin*
Best Sausage
Aldi Specially Selected Caramelised Onion Pork Sausages*
Best Smoked Product
Aldi Specially Selected Lightly Smoked Salmon Fillets, £4.29 (£17.88/kg)
Best Christmas Fish Product
Aldi Specially Selected Exquisite Dressed Side of Salmon*
Best Christmas Meat Product
Iceland Luxury Pheasant Roulade, £5 (£6.41/kg)
Best Christmas Party/Buffet Product
Aldi Specially Selected 3 Little Pigs In Blankets*
Best Christmas Seafood Product
Iceland Luxury Coconut Leaf Crab & Noodle Parcels, £2 (£6.25/kg)
Best Christmas Stuffing
Aldi Specially Selected Drunken Fruits Stuffing*
Best Christmas Turkey
Aldi Specially Selected Turkey Breast Parcel with Roast Chestnut & Apple Stuffing*
Best Ready to Eat Christmas Product
Aldi Specially Selected Antipasto Misto Platter*
* Indiciates where we've not been able to source/the supermarket won't provide the price.
Meanwhile Aldi's award-winning free range whole chicken costs £3.29 (£3.29/kg), while premium brand Waitrose sells its free range chicken for £9.98 each (£5.99/kg).
It's a similar story when it comes to fish too. Aldi's award-winning packet of two lightly smoked salmon fillets costs £4.29 (£17.88/kg) compared to Waitrose's equivalent product costing £6.99 (£29.13/kg).
The only product categories Aldi didn't win were best ready meal, best Christmas meat product and best Christmas seafood product, which all went to frozen food specialist Iceland.
Trendy London-based chain Whole Foods Market, meanwhile, picked up the top award in the best red meat product category.
The Grocer said products were tested and tasted in professional kitchens by a panel of experienced judges, including nutritionists, food technologists, butchers, fishmongers and development chefs.
Products were judged on customer appeal, visual appearance, nutrition, cooking, serving and storage details, comparison of raw and cooked appearance (where appropriate), smell, taste, texture and value for money.
Supermarkets have to enter these awards to be in with a chance of winning, but The Grocer said there will have been at least two high quality entrants per category.
More stories on food
If you're thinking about stocking up on the winning items for this Christmas, bear in mind that Tesco’s budget turkey beat luxury rivals to win BBC Good Food’s blind Christmas feast taste test last year.
Meanwhile, just last month consumer group Which? revealed the best and worst supermarket hams - and the lowest rated isn't what you'd expect.
In a similar taste test, Aldi burgers recently beat Waitrose in blind taste test - and they cost a third less.
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