Safety first for Food Man leader

Food Manufacture​ editor Rick Pendrous has been given the Society of Food Hygiene and Technology's (SOFHT) Most Significant Contribution award for highlighting food safety issues.

The award was presented at the society's annual ceremony at the Royal Garden Hotel in London last month. SOFHT chairman Simon Houghton-Dodd said: "Under his editorship, the magazine has campaigned for increasing food safety standards whilst not being afraid to raise contentious issues."

Pendrous welcomed the award: "It is really in recognition of the esteem with which Food Manufacture​ is now held and thus should be seen as an award for the whole editorial team."

SOFHT also presented awards for Best New Product, Best Auditor or Technologist, Company of the Year with fewer than 100 employers and Company of the Year with more than 100 employees.

The best new product was judged to be an allergy awareness pack for food handlers produced by Allergytraining.com. Runner-ups were Deb's Florafree hand hygiene starter kit and Spec-Tecs Specification Services, which writes product specifications for retailers.

The best auditor award went to Roger Hart, who pipped Herluf Thun Rasmussen to the first spot.

Spec-Tecs beat the Italian ice cream producer R Rossa & Sons and the pest control firm Rokill to the award for company of the year with fewer than 100 employees.

The larger company of the year award went jointly to the retailer Musgrave Budgens-Londis and the contract cleaning and support services firm the Hygiene Group. l SOFHT moves from Lymington, Hampshire, to Middleton, Staffordshire, this month when Su Werran takes over from the executive secretary Helen Hyde.

Werran can be contacted at fhjreena@fbsug.pb.hx​.