EAST Lancashire businesses were the toast of the Food Northwest Awards.

Among the winners were Blackburn brewery Daniel Thwaites, Moorhouses Brewery in Burnley and a Ribble Valley red meat processor.

Organised by Food Northwest, the organisation set up by the North West Regional Development Agency (NWRDA) to lead the food and drink industry, and to help to grow the North West regional economy, the annual awards are in their fourth year.

Companies across Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Merseyside and Greater Manchester compete for the titles, including food retail and service, wholesale, catering, distribution, food processing and agriculture, with winners in 11 categories.

Red meat processor Dunbia, based in Sawley, were awarded the Food Northwest Award for skills at the gala awards dinner on Thursday night, hosted by presenter Lucy Meacock, at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel.

Daniel Thwaites Brewery in Blackburn, which recently secured a contract to supply its beers to British embassies across the globe, won the UKTI award for international trade.

Meanwhile master butcher, Kevin Berkins, who runs The Eagle at Barrow in Clitheroe and The Fence Gate Inn near Burnley, won the ‘sausages’ category for his leek and black pudding sausages.

Pat Foreman, chief executive of Food Northwest, said: “We are delighted to acknowledge the ever-growing range of the region’s speciality foods.

“This has been a year of outstanding entries and we have been very impressed with the continued hard work of everybody involved in the industry.”