Winners of 2024 Katha Awards for Food revealed

MANILA, Philippines — The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) took a huge leap forward, championing Philippine food excellence as it recognized the best of the country’s export food products.

The much-anticipated winners of the 2024 Katha Awards for Food were announced on April 26 in a press briefing dubbed the “Big Taste Reveal: IFEX Philippines 2024 Media Salu-Salo and Katha Awards for Food Presentation” held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

Recognized as a seal of Philippine food innovation and creativity, Katha Awards for Food seeks to challenge food entrepreneurs across the country to foster a culture of excellence in developing new export products.

“Katha Awards has been a hallmark of Philippine creativity through the recognition of fresh and innovative food products and applications. It seeks to inspire courage among food entrepreneurs to explore galleries of flavors and work on new, untried ideas,” CITEM deputy executive director and officer-in-charge Ma. Lourdes Mediran said.

She also explained that CITEM, the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), has undertaken rigid measures to determine the most outstanding products among the nominees.

“These export-quality products are held to certain standards that CITEM has put in place for several years. Out of 79 products submitted for evaluation, 21 made it to the final screening and only nine emerged as the creme dela creme, meticulously selected by luminaries who are all well-respected within the food community,” she added.

The Board of Judges for this year’s Katha Awards for Food was led by former Department of Tourism (DOT) secretary, former CITEM president and now president of International School of Sustainable Tourism, Dr. Mina Gabor.

Joining her in the panel of judges were Anna Marie Ozaeta, co-founder of the Philippine Culinary Heritage; Ferdinand Cabo Chanpongco, food industry consultant; and Millie Dizon, senior vice president for marketing of SM Retail.

Central to the occasion was a panel discussion facilitated by renowned gastronomy expert Clang Garcia and attended by authorities in food export