Mystery Judging Begins In Hunt For Best Chippie

MEDIA RELEASE
1 October 2008

Mystery Judging Begins In Hunt For Best Chippie

Chip shops across the country should be on the lookout for a mysterious character calling into their shops, as mystery judging in the That’s Life Best Chip Shop Competition gets underway today [1 October].

The Chip Group Chairperson, Glenda Gourley, said each of the top 20 chip shops in each region, which have been selected by public text voting, will now be scrutinised by a mystery judge at any point from 1-31 October.

Judges will determine who the top 15 finalists for each area are and ultimately which shop will be named the grand national winner.

“This year, judges will be on the lookout for shops that are following the recently launched ‘New Zealand Standards for Deep Fried Chips in Independent Fast Food Outlets’, and will also look at a range of other criteria including chip freshness and colour, shop cleanliness and customer service.

“Each shop is encouraged to follow the industry Standards to try and achieve chip fat levels of less than 11 per cent,” Glenda said.

Heart Foundation nutritionist, Judith Morley-John, said the Standards include: using thick, straight-cut chips, which absorb less fat than crinkle-cuts or shoestrings; cooking at 175 -180°C and, draining the cooked chips correctly – commonly referred to as the ‘shake, bang and hang’ method.

“By using the recommended techniques, shops can reduce the fat in chips by as much as 20 per cent,” Judith said.
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The ‘That’s Life! Best Chip Shop Competition 2008’ is the country’s only national chip shop competition and this year is supported by: That’s Life!, ‘Goodman Fielder’, ‘Huhtamaki’, ‘Bakels’, ‘Burns & Ferrall’, Food2Go Magazine, McCain Foods (NZ) Ltd, ‘Moffat’, ‘Mr Chips’, ‘Horticulture New Zealand’, ‘Premo Filtration’, Southern Hospitality, ‘Kauri’, ‘Alfa One’, ‘Eurotech’ ‘Burns & Ferrall’, ‘Groenz’ and, ‘The Heart Foundation’.

The six regional winners and a grand national winner will be announced in November.

Chip lovers can check out the top 20 finalists for each region at www.bestchipshop.co.nz.

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