The Good Food Awards or GFAs is an annual award competition for outstanding American craft food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients. Created by th
Good Food Foundation
(formerly Seedling Projects), the Good Food Awards take place in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and are designed to celebrate foods that are "tasty, authentic, and responsibly produced." An annual Awards Ceremony and Marketplace is held to honor the Good Food Award recipients who push their industries towards craftsmanship and sustainability while enhancing our agricultural landscape and building strong communities. The Good Food Awards have been particularly notable in the coffee industry. As of the 2021 Good Food Awards, Patric Chocolate has won twenty-six awards, more than any other entrant.

Criteria

The criteria for the Good Food Awards varies by industry, however basic rules says that entries must be made without

genetically modified Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...

ingredients, using good animal husbandry, "without the use of artificial ingredients, hormones, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer," and crafted in the USA. There are currently seventeen categories in which awards are given:

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

charcuterie Charcuterie ( , also ; ; from french: chair, , flesh, label=none, and french: cuit, , cooked, label=none) is a French term for a branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, ''galantines'', ''ballo ...

, cheese,

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, cider,

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

confections Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

, elixirs,

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

pantry A pantry is a room or cupboard where beverages, food, and sometimes dishes, household cleaning products, linens or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. Etymol ...

pickles Pickles may refer to: Dogs * Pickles (dog) (died 1967), a dog that found the stolen World Cup trophy in 1966 * Pickles (pickleball), a dog often cited as the name origin for the sport of pickleball * Mr. Pickles, the titular demonic dog in ...

preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

snacks A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

, and

spirits Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

. Additionally, many of the categories have subcategories.

Rules

Up to 3 entries are allowed per producer in all categories except for coffee. Up to 2 entries are allowed per coffee producer, each from a different country of origin. Producers must wait one year to re-enter a Good Food Award winning product "to pave the way for new products and entry-level producers." There is a non-refundable entry fee for each submission, to cover storage, sorting and transport to the tasting venue. Shipping and product costs for entries must be covered by the entrant. Products must be made in a licensed kitchen, or as required by state and local regulations, and be ready for sale. If produced by a copacker (or for Fish, a cannery or processor), the product must be made from the entrant’s own recipe, with strict sourcing guidelines set by the entrant and with regular quality control measures set in place. Ingredients that are part of an entry which fall into one of the other Good Food Awards categories must also meet the sustainability standards of those categories. Entrants who score well in the Blind Tasting are then asked to provide more information on sourcing and their sustainability and social responsibility practices to verify they meet the Good Food Awards standards details listed in the Entry Form. Entrants are disqualified if they do not meet the standards or any statements made are found to be false.

External links

HomepageFacebook pageGood Food Awards Twitter2016 winners

References

{{reflist Food and drink awards American awards Annual events in California