The Grocer's Own Label Awards 2016 winners announced

Britain’s major supermarkets shared in the glory of own-label innovation today as the winners of The Grocer’s annual awards were unveiled in London.

Blur bassist and cheese maker Alex James was on hand to congratulate the 2016 winners of The Grocer’s Own Label Food & Drink Awards at a ceremony in London’s Hilton Park Lane.

It was another year of record entries to the awards, with 1,403 products submitted for consumer testing conducted by our partners Cambridge Market Research.

A shortlist of 350 products made it through to the second round of judging by our panel of experts, and the winners were selected by combining the consumer scores and our expert’s votes.

There was a good spread of winners across the different retailers and product tiers this year - showing price is no longer the only factor for success in own-label.

In fact, innovation was biggest trend for 2016 – with the mults really rising to the challenge of meeting changing consumer tastes and habits.

New ingredients, flavour combinations, pack designs and cooking methods were all welcomed by consumers and experts – and some of the most unusual entries enjoyed success.

“This year was without any doubt the best yet for our Own Label awards. Not only did we see another record number of entries, but the quality and innovation was exceptional,” The Grocer editor Adam Leyland, who co-hosted the awards lunch.

“Supermarkets are making great strides on own-label, and these awards give the best of the best a chance to shine.”