Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has been awarded the Champion Trophy as “Australian Large Producer,” at the 2018 Australian Food Awards (AFA) presentation dinner, held in September.
The third annual awards dinner conducted by The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria bestowed 13 champion trophies to the best food producers nationwide. The AFA program prides itself on the recognition and celebration of outstanding food produced across the country.
This year, Australia’s leading national food awards program attracted 1,296 entries from more than 360 exhibitors, and all six states and one territory were represented in the Best in Class awards. The accolade comes after MCEC was awarded six medals by the AFA for a range of ice creams and sorbets.
MCEC’s awarded products were:
Gold
• Single origin dark chocolate sorbet (also awarded “Best in Class” sorbet in Victoria)
• Coconut and pineapple sorbet
Silver
• Vanilla yoghurt
• Hazelnut ice cream
• Caramelized fig and Rutherglen Muscat ice cream
• Lemon and blueberry sorbet
The trophy recognizes MCEC as having received the highest combined score out of all other large producers. The judges combine the scores from exhibitors’ top four scoring products, to determine each exhibitors “total score.”
MCEC’s Executive Pastry Chef Alessandro Bartesaghi credits the talent and passion within his team to continuously create award-winning products. “At MCEC everything we prepare is made fresh, in-house and by hand,” says Bartesaghi. “This philosophy is what makes our kitchen so exceptional in the events industry and why we continue to be recognized amongst some of Australia’s best food producers.”
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is Australia’s largest convention and exhibition space with 70,000 sq.m. of space. Facilities include The Goldfields Theatre, a 9,000-sq.m. multi-purpose event space with a retractable 1,000-seat theatre and new exhibition halls; meeting rooms, an outdoor terrace, banquet space and the Goldfields Cafe and Bar. For more info, visit mcec.com.au.
