Wonderful prizes and glorious puddings

30 June 2005 is the closing date for the Oxoid Awards for food hygiene and safety.

The awards are designed to reward the companies, laboratories and individuals who ensure that food is safe to eat, and to give them the publicity they deserve.

The awards categories for this year are: Laboratory technician of the year, where the first prize is £1000 plus a trip to the 2006 International Association of Food Protection Meeting in Calgary, Canada, and a commemorative trophy.

Laboratory of the year, where entries are welcome from all types of laboratories that are involved in food hygiene and safety.

The £500 first prize will allow the winning team to celebrate their achievements and the commemorative trophy is a long-term reminder that they excel at what they do.

The Judges' Special Award - in previous years of the Oxoid Awards for food hygiene and safety the judges found that some entries did not meet the criteria for Laboratory technician of the year or Laboratory of the year, but were worthy of special mention.

So this year Oxoid has introduced the Judges' Special Award.

If an individual, team, or organisation has undertaken work that is not entirely (or in any way) laboratory-based, but that makes a significant contribution to improving standards of food hygiene and food safety, then this Award category should be of interest.

The prizewinner will receive £500 and a commemorative trophy.

In addition, winners will also be invited to receive their prizes in front of an audience of leading food professionals at Oxoid's Food Seminar Day to be held at the Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association in September 2005, and to be Oxoid's guests at a celebratory awards dinner, plus overnight stay, at the beautiful Three Ways House Hotel in Gloucestershire - a venue that is very appropriate for the Oxoid Food Awards as it is home to the world famous Pudding Club.