Smoked salmon pastrami comes up trumps for Shetland firm

A type of smoked salmon developed by a Shetland firm has won a coveted Q award at the annual Quality Food Awards held in London.

Shetland Products’ new “WildWaters” smoked salmon pastrami beat off stiff competition from major supermarket chains Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s to secure a win in the fish category.

“Moist, tender and peppery with an excellent texture” was how the judges summed up the product, which they declared the winner at Tuesday’s awards for its freshness and combination of spices. It was deemed a premium product that is easily available and affordable. They also liked the clean ingredient list and the fact that such a small producer is doing so well in the marketplace.

Commenting on the win, managing director of Shetland Products, Michael Stark, said: “This is excellent news for us, particularly when you consider the other products shortlisted in our category. The Quality Food Awards showcase the very best food and drink products on sale in the UK and the fact that we have won is a true testament to the quality of our new and innovative product.

“We recently took the decision to take value added processing to an entirely new level and have since unveiled our WildWaters range of uniquely flavoured smoked and marinated salmon products – all devised by our in-house team.

“The range is already proving tremendously popular in the retail marketplace – both in the UK and overseas, which is remarkable given the fact that it was only launched a short while ago. I had no doubt that we had created a ground-breaking, first class selection of luxury fish products. Now, we have a highly sought after accolade to confirm it.”