Ontario honours agri-food exporters

L to R: Danish Kizilbash, TWI Foods; Yousif Al-Ali, president and CEO of Super-Pufft Snacks Corp.; Ali Kizilbash, CEO of TWI Foods Inc.; Minister Jeff Leal; George Haddad, CEO of Handi Foods.

The Ontario Food Exporter Awards were presented on January 25, recognizing companies that have strengthened the province’s economy through increased exports of Ontario manufactured food.

Presented by Jeff Leal, Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, this year’s top award went to Toronto-based TWI Foods Inc. for its rapid growth in exporting cake-rusks, cookies, cakes and frozen foods to markets in the U.K., the U.S., Australia, Germany and Singapore during the last two years.

The other two finalists recognized were Handi Foods, a leading pita bread and snack food manufacturer in Ontario, and Super-Pufft Snacks Corporation, one of North America’s largest manufacturers of store branded snack foods.

Ontario’s first Food Export Road Map to China was also released at the awards presentation. The “how-to” exporting guidebook provides Ontario food and beverage business with practical step-by-step advice to successfully expand into the Chinese market.