The long awaited shortlist for the 2021 Nourish Awards has been released. Shortlisted brands this year include products from leading brands such as Mindful Chef, Herbalife, Naturya, Just Wholefoods and Gosh! along with many new, unique and innovative food, beverage and supplement products.

The Nourish Awards has built a reputation in the food and beverage industry for being the “toughest health food awards in the UK” with most categories requiring products to be free from gluten, dairy, refined sugars, artificial sweeteners and additives; placing the emphasis not only on taste and texture but on nutritional value and quality of ingredients.

This year, the Nourish Awards saw the launch of a new chapter, the Nourish Children Awards - the UK’s first health food awards dedicated specifically for products that are created for children. The aim is to encourage, recognise and help growing brands that use less sugar and processed ingredients, providing healthier options for little ones.

The Nourish Awards were founded by Diana Murphy with the aim of giving food brands who are making head-way in the world of nutrition a chance to be put to the ultimate test and verify the value of their products from a panel of experts in the industry. Winning a Nourish Award can help accelerate the launch of new products and boost consumer confidence.

Diana Murphy, Nourish Awards founder, said:
“Our aim is to encourage healthier options to the food, beverage and supplement market by providing validation and recognition to competing brands. We are passionate about running the awards each year and love seeing so much innovation.
It is our mission to play our part in supporting businesses to succeed and at the same time to help consumers make a more informed choice.”

The first round of judging took place at the beautiful Ditton Manor in the heart of Windsor by a panel of experts from the food industry and the field of nutrition. They tried, tested and scored over 250 products based on not only taste and texture, but nutritional benefits and quality of ingredients.

The expert judging panel has included many industry-shakers, including: Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden in 2018; Dale Pinnock – The Medicinal Chef, star of ITV’s “Eat, Shop, Save” series; Jenny Tschiesche – the Lunchbox Doctor, one of the UK’s leading nutrition experts; Tim May from the much loved NOSH book series; Heerum Fleary, founder of Innoveat, the UK’s largest virtual marketplace for F&B brands and Margarita Kalna, founder of the popular Free From Festival also sponsoring the Health Drinks & Shots category this year.

Winners will be announced on the 24th September with the award ceremony hosted by Naomi Devlin – free from food expert, author and chef tutor at River Cottage.
Consumers will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite products over the summer months via the Nourish Awards website; products receiving the highest number of votes will receive the People’s Choice awards.