At SIAL, the world's best new product comes from Austria

Austria’s Maggi Zart Gebraten has taken top new-product honours at the SIAL show in Paris, winning the World Tour by SIAL gold award.

The product was chosen by a 28-member jury composed of journalists from around the world. After choosing products representing trends from each country, the jury voted by secret ballot for the one they felt was most outstanding.

Gold, silver and bronze awards were given out by Nicolas Trentesaux, director of SIAL, at a ceremony Tuesday afternoon (in photo, left, handing out the award to a Maggi official).

Maggi, a Nestle product, lets consumers cook meat in a single piece of papyrus frying paper, adding flavour and eliminating the need for added oil. It speaks chiefly to Austria’s trend towards convenience foods.

Silver was given to Japan’s Drop of Freshness—a soy sauce product that reseals after use, allowing it to stay fresh longer.

Bronze was awarded to Gourmet Africa from South Africa. The convenience product features ready-to-eat soups and sauces packaged in stand-up pouches. It uses traditional African ingredients.

Canada had three products in the running for the awards: TeaPops from DeeBees Specialty Tea Foods from Victoria, SexCereal from Big Life Living in Toronto, and Squoosh from Calgary.

This is the first time SIAL has awarded the World Tour Awards. At previous SIAL shows in Paris, the world's best new product was crowned with the SIAL d'Or award.

It's worth pointing out that at the two most recent Paris SIAL'S, Canada took home the top prize. In 2012, Campbell Company of Canada won the SIAL d'Or for Nourish, a complete meal in a can aimed at feeding the malnourished.

In 2010, the SIAL d'Or winner was Honibe, from Island Abbey Foods on Price Edward Island. Honibe is pure honey in a lozenge form that can be chewed like candy or dissolved in tea as a sweetener.