Outstanding Food Product Award

The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced the winner of the 2019 Distinguished Food Product Award, where the Kazerooni Company won the first-place prize of $10,000 and Aljaser Factory Company won the second-place prize of $5,000.

The winners were announced at the ceremony held yesterday in the Chamber’s Majlis Hall in the presence of the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Al-Zayani; Chairman of Chamber’s Board of Directors, Samir Nass; Chairman of Chamber’s Food Wealth Committee, Khaled Al-Amin in addition to a group of members of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and a number of invitees.

This competition was organized by the Chamber’s Food Wealth Committee for the second year in a row. Aljaser Factory Company won first place in the last edition.

In addition to the two cash prizes, the winners of the competition will receive the Chamber’s Quality Seal on all products of the winning manufacturers for a period of two years. It will also coordinate with the Export Development Center to export their products and promoting them in Forbes International magazine, in its Arabic and English versions.

Chamber President, Samir Nass, stressed the importance of this award to stimulate the food sector and attract local and foreign investments to this sector. He stressed, at the same time, that the food industry is one of the most important and prominent industries that the Kingdom seeks to develop and increase investment in order to reach self-sufficiency in the field of food.

Nass added, “The Chamber hopes that this award will be a means to reach the goals set for the development of the food sector, pointing to the Chamber’s endeavor to develop the award in the future.” The Chairman of the Food Wealth Committee at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Khaled Amin, said a total of 36 contestants applied to register for the second edition of the Bahrain Award for Excellence in Food Products, compared to 16 contestants in the first edition.

He added, “the contestants and producing companies excelled in improving the appearance of the local product and they have a passion for exporting outside Bahrain, which is required in order for Bahraini goods to be present in all countries of the world.”

About the new vision for the third edition, he stressed that the committee is considering adding new categories such as more food exporters, creativity, and open a category for large companies as well. He pointed to the focus on developing the food industry, whether at the local or global level.

He referred to the committee’s ambition to obtain support from other parties to increase the value of the award, however, he reiterated that the award aims in the first place to encourage the local product and motivate Bahraini food companies to develop their performance and competitiveness and push for local investment while working to enhance the quality of the local product and increase consumer confidence in it.

The winner of the second edition of the competition, Bashar Kazerooni, said he participated in the first edition and was not lucky; however, he returned to participate again and won the second edition award for Bharat (Alameer), pointing out that the award’s logo will enhance the position of the Bahraini product in the Kingdom and the Gulf region.

On the other hand, the competition was supervised by a group of specialists in the food industry sector, including Afnan Al Zayani, Hala Obaid, Dr. Aisha Bahloul, Kazem Asad, Nader Qanati, in addition to Nares Qambar.

The judge, Dr. Aisha Bahloul, said the committee found it very difficult to choose the winning products due to the high quality of the participating products. She pointed out that the committee was looking at 4 main things for each product, namely quality, the percentage of Bahrainization in the product and distribution, in addition to innovation.