In celebration of International Fish and Chip Day on 4 June, Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) announced the Great Australian Fish and Chip Awards will return in October 2021.
SIA Communications Manager Jessica McInerney said they are excited to take over the leadership of the Annual Awards from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC). ‘The much loved awards will be renamed The Great Australian Fish and Chip Awards, to align with the industry’s brand Great Australian Seafood which was launched last year as a COVID-19 response,” she said.
The awards didn’t happen last year because of the pandemic but they will be back and running in 2021. ‘The FRDC has done a wonderful job establishing them for industry, and we thank them for their hard work. The national competition is set to kick off on 19 October to celebrate International Seafood Day, with the national winner announced in December,” she said.
Across every state and territory, people claim to have the number one fish and chips and the Awards wants to put them to the test. At the moment the SIA is finalising details to make the awards COVID safe. “What I can tell you is we’ll be looking for proper country of origin labelling on menus –close to 70% of seafood eaten in Australia is imported so it’s important we get consumers asking for Aussie seafood,” said Ms McInerney.
“We want to see fish species labelled and identified correctly as according to the Fish Names Standards. And most importantly, we are looking for crisp, golden fish batter or crumbing, and crunchy, creamy fries with just the right amount of salt. There might even be bonus points for shops using some of our underutilised, but just as tasty, species on their menus. Things like Oceanjacket, Black Bream, Boarfish or Mackerel.”
The 2019 fry-off reeled in more than 100,000 votes, across 800 stores, and this year SIA expects to get more. People will have a chance to mullet over their favourite store ahead of the October voting kick-off.
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