Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards 2008

Mey Selections scooped two awards at the premier Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards 2008.  The two awards are; best example of Collaboration in Supply Chain and Best Range of Honey, Conserves and Preserves.

Tracy Waters, Business Development Manager and Danny Miller, Chairman of Mey Selections, were congratulated by Alex Salmond, First Minister of the Scottish Government on the double awards received by North Highland Products Ltd. against tough competition.

The Collaboration in Supply Chain Award recognised the value and unique benefits brought about by the way Mey Selections collaborates with all its producers, shares some packaging/set up costs and shoulders all the design and marketing costs, including a website and negotiations with national retailers. In this way, Mey Selections delivers its vision of bringing the natural goodness of the North Highlands to an ever-wider range of discerning customers, at the same time ensuring a sustainable future for local farmers and food producers. The collaborative approach extends right across the supply chain; with abattoirs in Orkney, Dornoch, Inverurie and Elgin, with 5 distilleries, almost a dozen fine food producers right across the territory, and with almost 400 farmers, is unique.

The winning of the Honey, Conserves and Preserves Award was secured by the unique recipes, exceptional flavour and wide variety of preserves and chutneys within the Mey Selections range which were developed and adapted from recipes used by Su and Ruari Gillies at their small family business, Gillies Fine Foods in Dingwall. Three honeys produced by the Robertson family at Struan Apiaries in Conon Bridge were also part of the range.  NHP Ltd. worked alongside the Gillies and the Robertsons and used professional chefs and tasters for sampling and developing products from existing recipes.

The development stage was important for these products as they are free from all preservatives. Care was taken to create products that balance batch production with consistent quality and taste, and a reasonable shelf life.


SuperMeat & Fish Awards 2008

Mey Selections has scooped the ‘Best New Product to the Market’ award for its co-branded Mey Selections and Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the difference Scottish Beef & Chianti Bake with Taleggio Cheese’ at the SuperMeat & Fish Awards 2008. 


Following the awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane in London last night, John Strak, Managing Director, Mey Selections said:

“Sainsbury’s has recognised the added-value benefits that the guaranteed provenance of the Mey Selections brand brings to the premium beef on their butchery counters can also be applied to their Taste the difference and Inspire to cook ranges.  Sainsbury’s is also supporting the local farming community through this commitment to a signature ingredient and we are delighted that this award recognises the quality of the beef from the farms in the North Highlands.  Mey Selections beef is currently the signature ingredient in 11 ready meals, which will extend to 17 this Autumn.”

The Mey Selection co-branded ready meal range is produced by Oscar Mayer, and is available in 600 Sainsbury’s stores nationwide.  Visit www.sainsburys.com/groceries and click on ‘Fresh food’ to buy online!

In addition to the Taste the difference Scottish Beef & Chianti Bake with Taleggio Cheese, two other Mey Selections and Sainsbury’s co-branded products were short-listed for awards: ‘Taste the difference Shin of Beef’ and ‘Inspire to cook Scottish Beef Rump Steaks with Cheddar & Mustard Melt’.

Mey Selections Scoops Top BBC Award
November 27th 2008

Mey Selections won the Best Retail Initiative award last night at the NEC in Birmingham. The award, given by Radio 4’s food and farming programme is seen as the Oscar of the food and farming world and it acknowledges Mey Selections outstanding achievement with customers on a national scale.

The Mey Selections brand is a direct result of the North Highlands Initiative inspired by HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, which was launched in August 2005 to promote and develop the economy and to support the rural communities of the North Highlands.

Celebrity chefs, Jamie Oliver and Ainsley Harriott were at the awards ceremony and Dr John Strak, Managing Director of North Highland Products, was there to accept the award, in front of an audience of 250 people, from Jimmy Doherty, the star of the TV programme, Farming Heroes. The programme was recorded live for Radio 4 and will be broadcast on Friday 28th and Sunday 30th November. It will also be available at the BBC website in the Radio 4 play again section via the iPlayer.

John Strak said, “This is an amazing achievement. We were nominated by the listeners of Radio 4 and the judges are the experts of the food and farming world. After just three years of trading Mey Selections has reached an audience and customer base of millions through Sainsbury’s and our on line web shop. This award is a testimony to the quality of the products we sell and the hard work and commitment of our farmers and fine food suppliers. Every day and every week of the year, we show commitment in the livestock and food and drink products we offer to our customers.”

It’s a high five for Mey Selections in the Great Taste Awards

1 August 2008: Five Mey Selections premium products from the North Highlands of Scotland entered into the Great Taste Awards this week scooped an amazing total of seven gold star awards.

Coveted two-star gold awards went to the Mey Selections Honey and Oat Biscuits and the Mey Selections Rib of Prime Scottish beef. Two Mey Selections honeys from Struan Apiaries – the heather and the Barrogill whisky blended honeys - were awarded one gold star each, as were the Mey Selections Toasted Highland Oatcakes from Reid’s Bakery.

The prestigious Great Taste Awards are seen as the benchmark for speciality food and drink and John Strak, Managing Director of Mey Selections, is delighted with the clutch of gold stars awarded to Mey Selections products.

“Mey Selections is all about quality and taste,” he explains. “Our products are produced in the clean air of the unspoiled North Highlands of Scotland by people who care passionately about the food they create and the environment in which it is grown and flourishes. Gold standard awards like these provide independent confirmation of our reputation and confirm our strategy.”

The Struan Apiaries Heather Honey, itself a gold-star winner,  is a key ingredient in one of the two-star gold winners -Mey Selections Honey and Oat biscuits baked by Reid’s Bakery in Thurso. The honey is mixed with the finest oats and sugar to create a sweet, oaty biscuit fit for a connoisseur. Reid’s also bake the Mey Selections gold star winner -Handmade Toasted Highland Oatcakes – still made to a recipe devised by Donald Reid’s grandmother over 100 years ago.

Mey Selections is exceptionally proud of the quality of its beef. The two-star gold award from the Great Taste Awards affirms this. Scottish beef is renowned the world over and that produced in the North Highlands under the Mey Selections brand is particularly flavoursome. Born and reared in the region and killed and matured to strict quality standards, this is some of the finest tasting Scotch beef available.

The one-star gold awards won by Struan Apiaries for two of their Mey Selections honeys recognise the exceptional purity and delicate taste of their produce. The North Highlands is a sparsely populated and unpolluted area, making it a wonderful habitat for honeybees to forage on a wide range of flowers to create differently flavoured honeys. The award-winning Heather Honey is one of these flower flavoured honeys, whereas the other gold-star winner blends Mey Selections Barrogill whisky with the unique Struan Apiary honey to make a fine full-bodied, uniquely Scottish honey.

Available in selected Sainsbury’s stores and quality outlets throughout the UK, Mey Selections products can also be viewed and purchased from www.mey-selections.com

“The Great Taste Awards are organised by the Guild of Fine Food and therefore represent the highest level producers can aspire to,” said John Strak. “Mey Selections is proud to have so many of its products recognised ”