Fishers Meats Ltd, which has been family-owned and operated in Dunedin since 1919, recently won a silver medal in the Great New Zealand Sausage Competition for its pure pork sausage, as well as a bronze medal in the competition's saveloy, polony and cocktail category for its cocktail saveloy.
The Great New Zealand Sausage Competition is an annual competition organised by Retail Meat New Zealand and is considered the country's premier sausage-judging event.
The competition, which is held each year in Wellington and has been run since 1994, is open to all New Zealand sausage makers whose products are available for retail sale.
Entries are accepted across twelve categories and products are judged, in their fresh and cooked form, on their visual appeal, flavour, texture and composition.
Fishers Meats chief executive Nick Fisher said his company had won an award at the event each year since 1996, including gold medals in 1996, 2001, 2003 and 2004.
‘‘We won the supreme award in our inaugural competition in 1996 with our Old English sausage and again in 2003 with our pork sausage,'' he said.
‘‘As far as I know we are one of only two companies to have won the supreme award twice.''
Mr Fisher, who has been in the family business since 1998 and took over as CEO of the company in January this year, said entering events such as the Great New Zealand Sausage Competition had merits beyond free publicity for the winners.
‘‘Our pork sausage is our most popular small-goods product,'' he said. ‘‘Recognition in these awards, aside from the publicity, is just further acknowledgment that we are actually making a top-quality product.''
Earlier this year Fishers Meats Ltd entered its first international competition, the fourth annual Food Challenge Awards in Australia, and was placed second in the smallgoods category.
