London, United Kingdom – Once again, Philippine chocolates prove to be among the best in the world as 26 of our products garnered awards in the 11^th Academy of Chocolate (AOC) Annual Awards.

Philippine chocolate makers have been successful at AOC since 2015. This year, local chocolatiers, Auro Chocolate, Dalareich Food Products, Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation, MS3 Agri-Ventures, and Theo & Philo Artisan Chocolates brought victory to the country by besting over 1,000 entries from different producers across the globe.

Bohol’s Dalareich Food Products and Davao’s Auro Chocolate jointly attained the highest prize, marking it the first Gold Awards for the Philippines, in the ‘Drinking Chocolate (Plain, For Milk-Based Drinks)’ category.

Philippine cacao beans also received high recognitions under the ‘Dark Bean to Bar’ and ‘Milk Chocolate Bean to Bar’ categories.

The AOC was founded in 2005 by Britain’s leading chocolate professionals and it promotes a greater awareness of fine chocolates available in the market. For this year’s awards, more than 100 expert judges made up the panel, including top chocolatiers and some of the UK’s most prominent food writers and bloggers.

Accepting the awards on behalf of the Philippine companies were Philippine Embassy’s Economic Officer, Vice Consul Bea Martinez, and Kristine Nobleza of the Philippine Trade and Investment Centre London.

Dalareich Food Products receives their Gold Award at the 2019 Academy of Chocolate Awards ceremony

Dalareich Food Products, whose 100% Pure Unsweetened Chocolate won a Gold Award, together with Philippine Embassy – London’s Vice Consul Bea Martinez

Vice Consul Bea Martinez accepting the awards of MS3 Agri-Ventures on their behalf

^{*Refers to non-Philippine companies whose cacao beans are sourced from the Philippines}

♦ Date of Release: 1 August 2019