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Free From Food Awards

The UK's only industry awards for freefrom food

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    • Criteria & Rules of Entry
    • Taking Part
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    • 2017 Shortlist
    • 2020 Judges
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  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • FreeFrom Hero Award
  • 2021 Christmas Awards
  • Entering the 2021 Awards
    • Criteria & Rules of Entry
    • Taking Part
    • Judging
    • Making the awards work for you
    • 2021 Categories
    • Product/Category Entry Forms
    • Big Brand Company Details and Payment
    • Small Brand Company Details and Payment
  • Sponsor the 2021 Awards
  • Previous Winners
    • 2020 Winners
    • 2014-2019 Winners
    • 2008-2013 Winners
    • 2020 Shortlist
    • 2019 Shortlist
    • 2018 Shortlist
    • 2017 Shortlist
    • 2020 Judges
  • Contact Us
free from food awards, judging, criteria

Judges and Judging Criteria

Judges for the FreeFrom Food Awards include:

  • Freefrom food professionals – manufacturers, chefs, cookery writers, bloggers etc.;
  • Nutritionists, dietitians and other health professionals;
  • Coeliacs and allergy reactors;
  • Laypeople and food professionals without allergies to benchmark products against their non-freefrom equivalents.

Because the freefrom food world is a small one, some of our judges will, inevitably, be professionally involved with some of our entrants. As far as possible we ensure that no judge actually judges a category that one of their clients has entered by asking them to declare any interests they may have when we confirm their booking. Should it happen that a judge does end up on a panel that is judging one of their clients’ products, then they are welcome to remain in the room but they may not comment on the products, nor do we count their marks for that session.

judges, free from food awards

What are the judges looking for?

The judges are looking for products that fill a gap in the freefrom market, that display an innovative use of ingredients, that remove unnecessary allergens, have clear labelling and display an awareness of the needs of the freefrom individual.

The products are judged taking into account the information provided by the entrant on the entry form, so it is crucial to complete this carefully. Make sure you fill in all sections on the entry form as fully as possible, especially the ingredients which must be submitted as per pack with allergens highlighted and every component ingredient detailed. Many of our judges have food allergies and will not be willing to taste a product with an  unclear ingredients list.

A properly filled in form will allow judges to gain a better understanding and be able to make a clearer judgement of the product. Missing out requested information makes it difficult to judge your product effectively.

The judging process

The food is all prepared according to the directions on pack, and the chefs report back to the judges on instructions / preparation of the products. This is important because these are consumer-facing awards, so the products are all prepared as they would be by the freefrom consumer in their own home, except for products entered into the Foods Manufactured for Foodservice category.

The judges are given enough of each product to sample once, and then come back to again a little later, which is why we ask for such specific quantities of each product.

Any leftover food samples are distributed to homeless shelters through City Harvest so that nothing is unnecessarily wasted.

There are between 4 and 6 judges plus a Chair and a monitor for each session.

Each category is judged ‘blind’: this means the judges have all the details of the products (as per your entry form) – except who makes it.

They are asked to evaluate the products’

  • quality, based on appearance, aroma, texture, flavour, ingredients,
  • usefulness – does it fulfil a really useful purpose for someone on a freefrom diet?
  • cleverness – is it doing something which is really difficult to do in manufacturing terms?
  • nutritional profile
  • freefrom credentials – has it eliminated unnecessary allergens where possible?
  • environmental credentials and sustainability of packaging

Judges take price into account when they judge products – if a good product is a particularly good price they will take note of that; similarly if product appears to be particularly expensive they will take note of that. However, they are aware of the cost of quality ingredients and product development. If a product uses especially quality ingredients or is a new and innovative one, they will not penalise it because it is expensive. Judges assess artisanal/handmade and factory made entries separately and on their own merits; they are not directly compared.

Judges will also take time to make constructive comments that could be helpful to the manufacturers of each product. The judges will call out any flaws, suggest improvements and give feedback worth hundreds of pounds absolutely free.

The judges are then asked to choose gold, silver and bronze winners, as well as the shortlist for that category.

Once they have made their choices, and only then, judges are shown the packaging for each product so that they can assess the design and the labelling for clarity and accuracy. They may then decide to alter their decisions about winners if they feel that the product’s on-pack information does not merit a winning place or commendation.

On the last judging day all the category winners are judged a second time to choose the overall winner of the FreeFrom Food Awards.

Judges’ comments provide valuable feedback to manufacturers, however, because of the large number of entries, we only give feedback on products on request.

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Our 2021 Sponsors

asda, freefrom, freefrom food awards, sponsor,
doves farm freee, sponsor, freefrom food awards
Genius, freefrom food awards, sponsor
nairns, free from food awards, sponsor
natasha's allergy research foundation, sponsor, freefrom food awards
oakland international, freefrom food awards, sponsor
Romer labs, sponsor, freefrom food awards
tesco, freefrom, sponsor, freefrom food awards
planted, free from food awards, 2020, sponsor

The Gallery

free from food awards
Nairn’s

The Free From Food Awards are one of the most credible awards on the circuit, and we tend to enter products every year.  Much of our innovation in recent years has been in the gluten free side of our business so it’s a great opportunity for us to showcase some of our new products.  To free from consumers, displaying the winners logo on pack is a sign of quality and safety, and a win certainly adds value to the conversations our sales team have with their buyer contacts when talking about listings.  The awards themselves are really straightforward to enter and very well organised and they’re attracting some great brands, both big and small, to enter which highlights just how far free from foods have come in recent years.

Bute Island

This year (2018) we won Gold at the Free From Food Awards for our Dairy Free Grated Mild Cheddar Sheese. We have submitted products to these awards over the last ten years, and have been proud to win awards for various products. The process of entering the products is clear and straight  forward. The Bute Island team have attended several of the awards ceremonies and found them to be not only enjoyable, but beneficial for the business. It’s always been a pleasure and an honour to be part of the Free From Awards.

ChocChick

We have been entering the FFF Awards since 2010 and have had some incredible networking opportunities, caught up with industry leaders, begun collaborations and even met with senior buyers who listed our products in stores, so to have won Gold this year for our Cacao Nibbles was the icing on the cake. We are incredibly proud to be part of the Free From family.

Mina Said-AllsoppWildcraft Bakery

The networking opportunities at the FFFA18 party have been really amazing – we’ve met people we have been following on instagram and twitter… We met the founder of Genius which is… AMAZING! We are so excited to put the freefrom logo on our website and all our products.

retrocorn, freefrom food awards
Greg Taylor Managing Director, Retrocorn

Our win opened a door to a national distributor in the UK allowing us to get our popcorn in front of all the big UK contract caterers, winning new business with Baxter Storey, Caterlink and many others!  A fantastic award like this really does get you noticed!  We are delighted with our win and will be entering our Hasta La Vista in next years award 100%

 

Emma HeathNairn’s

For us at Nairn’s, winning gold is as much about internal reward as it is about anything external or consumer facing.  For those involved in developing and trialling the products and bringing them to market, winning any of the FFAs further recognition of a job well done and gives a real sense of pride and achievement to the team.

FFFA19 Gold Winner for Caramelised Onion Flatbreads

Sue WarrenStrategic Development Director, Wellaby's (Unismack)

The FFFA have been at the forefront of driving innovation, awareness and availability of an increasing range in the Free From arena since before it was a trend. The FreeFrom Food awards remain a focus point for the industry and are a great platform for communication and engagement

Julia MarriottDietitian, allergy sufferer and judge at #FFFA

The website gives one place where parents can go and look to see which companies have been shortlisted, who won… it’s a great chance to see the range of products available on the freefrom market that aren’t just in their local supermarkets. Products that have got the FreeFrom Food Awards logo give parents confidence that not only do they taste good, but they have been checked for ingredients and safe manufacturing processes, that sort of thing – it gives them confidence in the products they are choosing.

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