Meat industry celebrated at prize-giving ceremony

Held at The Painters’ Hall in London, the event was attended by HRH The Princess Royal, Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Butchers and Fellow of the Institute of Meat.

More than 100 guests attended the prize-giving, and 12 category winners were presented with their awards by HRH The Princess Royal and Institute of Meat chief executive Keith Fisher (MB.Inst.M).

The overall winner, the ‘Champion Meat Apprentice of the Year’, chosen from the individual categories, was Jack White, from Cranswick Country Foods. He receives a winner’s trophy and certificate, a year’s free membership of the IoM and an additional cash prize of £500.

Commenting on this year’s prize-giving, Fisher said: “These awards are always a special occasion, in that we are safe-guarding the future of the meat industry. Many of the recipients of today’s awards will go on to become the next generation of meat industry leaders.”​

In addition, seven experienced butchers who had met the Institute of Meat’s rigorous criteria were awarded IoM-accredited Master Butcher status, MB.Inst.M. They were: David Corbett, Josh Douglas, Peter Horton, Simon Hoyland, Timothy Rowe, Jon Rae and Tony De Sousa. De Sousa and Rae became the first South African butchers to be recognised in this way by the IoM.