**The 2023 Food Awards will be broken down into 6 categories: **
- Best Healthy Breakfast Foods
- Best Healthy Snacks
- Best Healthy Beverages
- Best Healthy Frozen Foods
- Best Healthy Desserts
- Best Healthy Fast-Food Items
Requirements:
- Products must fall into the "new product window" of July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, meaning that they became available to purchase online or in major retail locations for the first time in that date range.
- The product must be available in major retail locations nationwide, or available for online ordering and shipping, by October 2022.
- Companies or PR representatives must be able to send at least five (5) samples for testing. Please do not send samples now.
- Products eligible for the 2023 awards must meet the nutrition criteria below.
Criteria:
- Fat: Any product that uses artificial trans fats are disqualified. Limit fat to equal to or less than 13 grams, which is 20% of your daily recommended value (DRV) of fat. Exceptions will be made for products whose main source of fat (according to order on the ingredients list) comes from nuts & seeds, extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed beef, coconut oil, avocado, chocolate, fish, eggs, and cheese.
- Saturated fat should be limited to 4 grams per serving, which is 20% of your DRV of saturated fat. Exceptions will be made for products whose main sources of fat come from the same ingredients listed above.
- Sodium: Sodium should be limited to less than 1,000 mg (43% DRV) per serving.
- Carbs: Preference will be given to products with more than 1 gram of fiber. (The FDA recommends consuming at least 28 grams of fiber a day on a 2,000 calorie diet.) Whole grain sources of carbs will be preferred over refined carbs.
- Sugar: Products should not exceed 15 grams of added sugar per serving. Sugar alcohols should be limited to 10 grams per serving.
- Protein: Preference will be given to products with quality protein sources—such as vegetarian (nuts, seeds, legumes) or from organic, grass-fed whey—over products whose protein boost is derived from soy protein isolate or conventional dairy.
- Ingredients: We believe that the food we eat should be made with ingredients we can find in our own pantries at home. Foods that contain any of the following ingredients (ingredients which research has shown to confer negative health effects) will be disqualified for a spot on our list: ultra-processed fats such as monoglycerides, diglycerides, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, interesterified vegetable oil, DATEM; any artificial ingredient like a sweetener, color (including caramel coloring), or flavor; preservatives such as TBHQ or potassium sorbate; additives like disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate, monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate.
Eat This Not That's Process:
- We will compile lists of all the new products that are submitted.
- Then, we'll send that list of new products to our registered dietitian judges so they can narrow down the list by selecting the products with nutritional and ingredient information that they approve of.
- With this nutrition-approved list for each category, we will reach out to brands for samples that will be sent to one editor for a taste test.
- The winners will be the top brands that meet nutritional guidelines, are approved of by dietitians, and those that we think are the best-tasting.
**If you would like Press Hook to submit on your behalf, share the following:**
Product name
Brief description
Nutrition panel with ingredients (attached image, text, or a combination of the two is fine)
Product launch date
Link to the product online
Link to downloadable hi-res product image
Kindly, Emilee
