Dunbia wins at Northern Ireland Food & Drink Awards 2024

Victor Hazleton, food safety and quality manager at Dunbia, Dungannon, was announced as the category winner while Dunbia’s Chloe Moore made it two wins on the night for the leading food company when she was presented with the Rising Star Award.

The awards ceremony took place in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast on Friday 15th March, hosted by BBC Northern Ireland presenter Jo Scott.

Dunbia, a division of Dawn Meats, was nominated for three award categories in total: Rising Star, Food Safety Champion and Best International/GB product launch. Entries were judged by a panel of representatives from major retailers alongside other industry experts.

Victor Hazleton and his team were recognised for their diligent work to ensure a smooth transition from the universally recognised modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) tray sealed lid format of packing minced beef to the new vacuum-packed mince. Dunbia Dungannon first rolled out the new packaging in May 2023 for Co-op and Nisa. This gave rise to an award nomination under the Best International/GB product launch category.

Chloe Moore won the Rising Star award for her role as group supply chain technologist. Chloe has been able to prioritise continuous professional development in her work, successfully graduating from Dunbia’s internal Professional Management Programme, in collaboration with UCD, in December 2023 where she carried out project work, focusing on the ‘Marketing of beef and lamb to ensure it remains relevant to Generation Z’. Chloe is also an active participant in developing graduate and placement students alike. An alumna of CAFRE, she routinely visits the college as an outreach to students who participated in the placement programme and offers her personal and professional advice to anyone looking to embark on a similar career path.

Brian Hyland, food safety and quality director at Dawn Meats, said: “I’m delighted that two members from the Food Safety and Quality team in Dungannon have been recognised at the NIFDA Awards. Victor has not only dedicated himself to the business and its customers over his career but has done so with a smile every day. His humour and ability to always mentor new team members makes him one of the most popular members of the team and a very deserving award winner. It has been great to see Chloe develop and grow into her role over recent years. She continues to push herself through ongoing professional development and she really is one of our stars of the future.”