The winner will be revealed as part of the wider Food Manufacture Excellence Awards, taking place the London Hilton Bankside on 5 February 2026.
Tickets to the 2026 awards are available to purchase here! Don’t miss out.
This year’s awards are supported by headline sponsor, Menzies, and event sponsors: Domino Printing, Sciences, Reed, Langdon, and Multivac.
“As a returning judge for the FMEA Awards in the Sustainability category — and this year also serving as a judge for the Employer of the Year category — I am continually impressed by the calibre of entries we receive,” said Rich Singleton, finance and sustainability director at Menzies.
“This year was no exception, with numerous outstanding submissions that made the task of selecting winners incredibly challenging. The dedication and innovation demonstrated by all participants are truly commendable and inspiring.”
The Billington Group
This historic Liverpool-based business was first launched in 1858, when its eponymous founded, Edward Billington, turned his hand to importing tea, coffee and sugar in to the UK.
Spreading its wings from these modest origins in the intervening 168 years, the firm has grown into a giant of the UK food production scene – employing over 1,800 people across four distinct food and agriculture businesses.
The four companies operated by the group are; Billington Foods, which supplies the UK’s foodservice, retail and B2B markets; the English Provender Company, which creates sauces, dressings, condiments, mayonnaise and marinades for the UK’s food manufacturers and retailers; Criddle, an agricultural commodity trading business; and Carr’s Billington, a rural and agricultural supplies firm.
As with any food manufacturer, The Billington Group’s operations will have a heavy environmental impact across the board – which is why it places a strong emphasis on sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint.
At the core of an ambitious strategy is the group’s commitment to becoming net zero in its own operations by 2040, as well creating its own energy where it can.
It is additionally working to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste by 2030. It is committed to eliminating all edible food waste and partnering and collaborating to reduce, recycle and reuse waste and water resources.
It has also pledged to become a net zero business by 2050, and is working to improve its packaging recyclability rate from 85% to 100%.
Grounds for Good
Social enterprise Grounds for Good is an up-and-coming gifting manufacturer with a unique proposition.
Founded in 2021 during lockdown by retired medic, Dr Rosie Oretti, the business sources landfill-bound coffee grounds from local cafes and re-purposes them to produce gift-friendly products such as boutique alcohols, Christmas decorations and even vegan chocolate.
With social improvement at its heart, the firm remains a dedicated contributor to range of environmental and community schemes.
A proportion of Grounds for Good’s profits goes directly to Llamau, a national charity that believes no young person or vulnerable woman should ever have to experience homelessness.
The firm will also provide a number of placements for individuals that have experienced homelessness, equipping them with useful practical and business skills in readiness for their return to the workplace.
Grounds for Good is equally committed to its green ethos, focused on ensuring that all of its products are as sustainable as possible; vegan; cruelty free; and made from a variety of 100% natural ingredients, mainly sourced from Welsh suppliers.
The company’s core strategy and brand message is three pronged: ‘Good for you, Good for our community, Good for our planet’, re-iterating its commitment not just to personal and social good – but also to helping contribute to a more sustainable future.
Win-Win
Against a backdrop of dwindling yields and rocketing cocoa prices, Win-Win has developed cocoa-free chocolate using fermentation.
Around one third of rainforest loss in key cocoa producing regions, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, is a result of making room for cocoa trees. This common practice of cocoa monoculture has subsequently disrupted food systems for wildlife, people and soil biodiversity.
Founded in 2021 by Ahrum Pak and Dr Johnny Drain, Win-Win is looking to address this challenge with its chocolate alternative that looks, acts and tastes just like the real thing - all without cocoa.
The east London-based business claims that its production cycle uses 80% water, and naturally leads to 100% less deforestation that normal cocoa production, as well as a staggering 84% less greenhouse gas emissions.
Barfoots
Bognor Regis-based fresh vegetable producer Barfoots is famous for its iron-clad commitments to sustainability – so much so that so its founder, Peter Barfoot has been awarded a CBE for Services to Sustainable Farming.
Launched by fifth-generation farmer Barfoot in 1976, the business began by growing a single crop in the unique microclimate of the Hampshire Basin.
To this day it is still a family-owned business, but it now sustainably grows, prepares and delivers fresh sweetcorn and speciality vegetables at farms and facilities around the world.
According to Barfoots, it has pioneered the supply of many semi-exotic vegetables to the UK.
Its clients include all major UK supermarkets as well as a range of national leading restaurant chains.
The farming firm aims to keep Peter Barfoot’s original philosophy at the heart of how it operates: “Look after the land like you are going to farm forever”.
Astonishingly, and in contrast to much of the farming sector, Barfoots was able to reach its ‘green energy year zero’ all the way back in 2010, and has since been fully powered by its own waste.
It produces more than twice the energy it needs from its green factory waste, and even sells the surplus to National Grid.
Glebe Farm Foods
PureOaty producer Glebe Farm Foods rounds off our finalists for 2026’s Food Manufacture sustainability award, with the independent, family-led business ploughing a very green furrow in the gluten free oats sector.
Operating out of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire and managed by brother and sister duo Philip and Rebecca Rayner, Glebe Farm Foods is the only farm in the UK growing and processing gluten free oats into porridge flakes, oat flour and its flagship gluten free oat drink, PureOaty.
With a strong focus on the sustainability of its production, Glebe Farm Foods has worked closely with MyEmissions to measure the carbon footprint of its products, and has been able to obtain a ‘super low’ carbon footprint for its PureOaty range.
MyEmissions analysed various factors such as farming, processing, packaging, and transport to determine the final result, and as the business is very keen to point out that it has 50% lower emissions than key competitor and brand leader Oatly.
To further ensure the sustainability of its business, Glebe Farm Foods invested in a new multi-million-pound Tetra Pak plant in 2023, with all its products from oat milks to porridge oats and granolas now processed and packaged onsite, bringing down food mileage from oat milling to packing to 150 metres.
