Eggs may already have widely recognized qualities, but the people that produce are, all too often, overlooked.
Once a year, however, the great and the good of the global egg industry gather for the International Egg Commission (IEC)’s Global Leadership Conference, which hosts its won awards ceremony, recognizing key achievers and achievements in the industry.
The latest leadership conference took place at Lake Louise, in Canada’s Banff National Park and saw the IEC present a new award, the Vision 365 Egg Innovation Award, which recognizes individuals, or organizations, demonstrating exceptional commitment and contributions to a thriving future for the egg industry.
Thinking outside the box
The first Vision 365 Egg Innovation award was presented to Rose Acre Farms, of the U.S., for its product Egglife Wraps.
The egg white wraps, according to IEC Vision 365 Chairman Suresh Chitturi, are an example of taking an existing product, the tortilla wrap, and creating a simple, delicious, and nutritious alternative.
They are a prime example of what can be achieved when we think outside of the box to create added value meal opportunities with eggs, he commented.
The much-longer established Golden Egg Award for Marketing Excellence, this year, was won by Ganong Bio, of South Korea.
The company was recognized not only for creating a range of egg products that align with their consumers’ needs, but also because it had developed a unique, direct-to-consumer, sales platform. The platform, known as Eggshop, enables eggs to go from farm to table in only 11 hours, brining consumers a step closer to egg producers.
Egg Solutions, a division of Canadian company Global Egg Corporation, was the recipient of this year’s Clive Frampton Egg Products Company of the Year Award.
The company is one of the largest suppliers to the Canadian food service market. With a focus on innovation, it has created the widely recognized HealthPlus brand, comprising healthy egg products, predominantly produced from egg whites.
Amongst reasons cited for Egg Solutions deserving the award were that it excels not only in producing high quality products, but that its targeted and inspirational marketing, coupled with strong innovation and focus on sustainability, have resulted in supplying fast-food chains and institutional kitchens across Canada.
Lifetime commitment
The event also saw the presentation of the Denis Wellstead Award for International Egg Peron of the year. This year, the award went to Chitturi Jagapati Rao, of India, for his life-long contributions to developing the Indian industry.
Amongst his achievements has been to be amongst the founders of India’s National Egg Coordination Committee, a producers’ association that has been instrumental in supporting the egg industry to grow exponentially. Attendees also heard how Mr. Chitturi’s contributions to the Indian layer industry had not only revolutionized the sector but had improved numerous lives.
