Thai Companies take home 124 Superior Taste Awards selected by world-class chefs & sommeliers from the International Taste Institute
This year’s ‘2023 Superior Taste Award’ celebrates 2,574 food and beverage products including delicious new plant-based alternatives
BANGKOK, 7 June, 2023– The jury of the International Taste Institute gave 124 Superior Taste Awards to 55 Thai Companies as part of 2,574 food and beverage products selected by some of the world’s best chefs and sommeliers, which were revealed as recipients of its ‘2023 Superior Taste Award’.
Top Thai winners included Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited with 17 awards in the Meat & Charcuterie category, Thai Spirit Industry Co., with 11 awards in the ‘Beers – Ciders & Alcoholic Beverages’ category, and Universal Food Public Co., Ltd. with 6 awards in the dairy category. Each of the products that underwent the institute’s rigorous taste evaluations, reflecting the growing investment of producers in the quality and the taste of their products.
The 2023 Superior Taste Award
The Superior Taste Award is a highly recognized certification granted to products that meet or surpass the expectations of a jury composed of professional chefs and sommeliers. The 2574 products that received the Superior Taste Award were evaluated on each one’s sensory characteristics, namely its visual aspect, olfaction, taste and texture. Only the best products that achieve a score exceeding 70% can be considered for the award, establishing that they are well-made, balanced, and delicious.
103 Prestige Award Winners – The International Taste Institute also recognizes producers with exceptional products which received consistently higher scores achieved over several years. In 2023 several notable Thai winners included Tipco Foods PCL. with 4 Prestige awards in the Water category, BONCAFE (THAILAND) LTD. with one award in THE Coffee category and Saha Pathanapibul PLC. with one award in the Pasta-Noodles-Rice-Grains category. In total 103 Prestige Award Winners included 77 Crystal Taste Awards, granted to products that have been awarded 3 stars for 3 years in a row, in addition to 26 Diamond Taste Awards, granted to products that have been awarded 3 stars 7 times during a period of 10 years.
Delicious plant-based alternatives
Manufacturers have upped their game regarding one of the main barriers for adoption of delicious plant-based alternatives: The sensory experience. Products ranged from meat alternatives such as burgers or nuggets, to milk or cheese dairy alternatives in addition to interesting seafood alternatives. Our data shows that the gustative quality of these products has improved significantly compared with previous years.
Alan Coxon, president of the International Taste Institute chef jury, said, “It is great to see more companies developing plant based alternative products. The jury was impressed by the overall quality of those products this year, some we evaluated were getting remarkably close to matching animal protein on smell, taste and texture”.
Making the world a tastier place with the best gastronomy experts
The jury was composed of some of the world’s best chefs and sommeliers, representing leading culinary associations, Michelin starred chef’s MOF’s, competition winners, who all shared common passion for food and qualitative products.
Eric de Spoelberch, CEO of the International Taste Institute, said, “We were extremely pleased to receive many applications from chefs and sommeliers from around the world to join our Jury. It allows us to assemble the best jury possible to help and encourage food and drink producers to step up the gustative quality of their products, contributing to our mission ‘to make the world a tastier place’.”
About the International Taste Institute
The International Taste Institute, founded in 2005 and based in Brussels, Belgium, evaluates and certifies the taste of foods and drinks from around the world. Its jury is composed of over 250 renowned chefs and sommeliers from 15 European culinary and sommelier associations.
Over the years, more than 20,000 products have been certified by the International Taste Institute’s jury, which features prestigious chefs and sommeliers such as Christian Brancaleoni (Best sommelier of Italy, 2022), Ferran Vila-Pujol, (Best Sommelier of Spain 2022), Alain Nonnet (2 Michelin Stars for 36 years), Bernard Vaussion (Head chef to the president of France), and Julie Dupuis (best woman sommelier of the world), among many other accomplished Chefs and Sommeliers.
The International Taste Institute performs objective sensory evaluation: its jury follows a rigorous blind-tasting methodology in which product samples are anonymised to avoid any scoring biases. In addition to scoring product performance according to the 5 standard sensory criteria, the jury provides comments as well as suggestions for further product improvement and food pairing.
The complete list of awarded products and producers are available at www.taste-institute.com. For more information or for interviews, please contact Eric de Spoelberch at +32 2 372 34 22 or eric@taste-institute.com.
Media contact:
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