AROUND THE INDUSTRY | AUSTRALIA PIZZA NEWS

Australian Grand Dairy Award Winners Announced
From an article by James Ferre featured on web site by PMQ editorial partner Australian Food News (www.ausfoodnews.com.au/). For the complete article, go to www.ausfoodnews.com.au/ and search “Dairy”. A gruyere created from Tasmania’s lush pastures has won the highest accolade among Australian cheeses, while a cream crafted from Gippsland milk has claimed the Champion Dairy Food title in the nation’s foremost dairy competition.

Dairy products from across the country were recognised by Dairy Australia at an awards ceremony in Melbourne promoting quality, excellence and innovation in Australian dairy foods.

The Australian Grand Dairy Awards were awarded to 18 products selected from more than 330 entries in cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream and other dairy categories, representing 85 Australian dairy manufacturers. Highly qualified technical experts, cheesemakers, providores, food media and chefs helped select the award-winning products.

Multi-award winning Heidi Farm in Tasmania received recognition for the Grand Champion Cheese title at the tenth annual Awards, with Gippsland Dairy Pure Double Cream claiming the Grand Champion Dairy Product title. Section winners included a cheese with a frisson of chilli, a return win by a Western Australian yogurt, and a banana bliss-out gelato.

Free Pizza Boxes Competition
First Pack, a leading supplier of packaging for Australia is promoting their “WIN YOUR OWN FREE PRINTED PIZZA BOXES” national competition. This is a national competition whereby all entrants and winners within Australia can win free pizza boxes from First Pack Pty Ltd.. All entrants must conduct their business within Australia. All entrants must currently be using First Pack pizza boxes through their current Food Service Wholesaler or Packaging Distributor.

Those wanting to enter who are not using First Pack pizza boxes can become eligible by calling First Pack toll free on 1300 665 554 to arrange supply of First Pack boxes. Any pricing for comparable products will be matched or bettered with First Pack products. The draw for winners of the Competition will take place at the First Pack stand at the 2009 Sydney Fine Food Australia Expo at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour. Winners will also be notified by First Pack Pty Ltd and published in the December 2009 issue of PMQ Australia magazine. For complete details and entry forms, visit www.pizzaboxes.com.au. You could win big and be featured in PMQ’s Pizza Australia.

Introducing Upper Crust
A food lovers’ response to the financial crisis
While most businesses have reacted to the downturn by introducing discount meal-deals, Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars is heading in the other direction by introducing a new range of premium Upper Crust pizzas.

Designed to cater to people’s growing desire to cut back on costs, but still enjoy high quality, gourmet foods, the Upper Crust range comprises six new pizzas served as 15 x 9” slabs that are designed to share.

Upper Crust has been devised by Crust’s Creative Chef Peter Augoustis, a former International Pizza Champion who is on a mission to bring real meaning back to the term ‘gourmet pizza’.

“In this financial climate, people are looking for affordable luxuries,” says Peter. “Everyone is cutting back, but they still want top quality, and that’s where Upper Crust fits in. The pizzas are of a quality you’d expect from a top-class restaurant but they are served as takeaway. We’re calling them ‘proudly unrefined’.”

The six Upper Crust pizzas will retail at $23 each. In fact, the range boasts the kind of ingredients you would expect to see on a restaurant menu including slow cooked braised lamb and caramelised figs stuffed with mascarpone.

“A lot of pizza outlets claim to make gourmet pizza,” says Peter. “But what many don’t realise is that it’s not simply about having quality ingredients — it’s what you do with them that counts. Real gourmet pizza is all about technique.”

A Moroccan Lamb pizza earned Peter the title of International Pizza Champion in 2007. The White Proscuitto and Sausage Duo pizzas are also previous award winners, with three new pizzas — Curry Chana, Shepherds Pie and Fromage. Upper Crust will be available for pick-up or free delivery from Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane from February 2009, priced at $23 each.

Fonterra Confirms No Melamine In Its Products
Fonterra announced in February one of its suppliers, a German based company called Budenheim, had advised Fonterra that an iron supplement Budenheim supplies to food companies around the world had tested positive for melamine.

Fonterra uses very small quantities of the iron supplement in 12 fortified whole milk powder products. Fonterra said it had immediately stopped all production using the supplement and was sourcing a replacement product. In addition, as an added precaution Fonterra had undertaken extensive retesting of retention samples of the affected batches of Fonterra’s milk powder products. No melamine had been detected in any of its products. For the complete media release, visit www.fonterra.com