Every year, at the end of July, the heart of international gastronomy beats in the city of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town, South Africa, and in the renowned international culinary competition Aurora International Taste Challenge (AITC), which, with a high degree of difficulty, awards the best products from around the world.
It is an important institution for gastronomy and a reference point for gourmet foods, while its results have been described as the "Olympics of the food industry".
The internationally renowned culinary and tasting competition Aurora International Taste Challenge (AITC) was organized for the 8th consecutive year in 2026, bringing together culinary visionaries, industry experts, demanding taste lovers, producers of gastronomic and specialty foods and beverages from all over the world in South Africa. The participating products are judged and evaluated by a large panel of experts, including leading food industry professionals, chefs, tasters and gastronomy experts.
The aim and challenge of South Africa’s renowned AITC competition is to recognize food excellence, while this dynamic recognition through its awards serves as a compass, guiding both passionate food lovers and mindful buyers towards reliable, expertly assessed products that set global benchmarks in quality and taste, ultimately helping producers gain global recognition.
The evaluation is conducted in a double-blind manner, meaning that the tasters do not know who produced the products or the name of the products they are evaluating, except for the type of product being evaluated and the expectations that the product they are tasting is supposed to have.
The expert judges each evaluate and decide on the quality of the product, without consulting each other to reach a consensus. The judges’ scores are not only based on their own taste, but they also evaluate the products from the perspective of consumers who love the products in that category.
Products are generally judged based on aroma, taste, mouthfeel, aftertaste and overall impression, using a complex scoring system devised by the Aurora International Taste Challenge jury. In addition to these basic criteria, each category has more relevant and specific criteria, based on its own strengths and advantages.
Silver, Gold and Double Gold awards are awarded to superior quality products, offering the awarded products international recognition and credibility for their excellent taste, while setting high quality standards in the global food community. For this reason, very few products are awarded in proportion to their participation in the Aurora International Taste Challenge (AITC), while those that are finally awarded are considered to have won the “Olympics of the food industry”.
In 2026, from July 3 to 9, in the city of Stellenbosch, Cape Town in South Africa and with over 3.000 tasting glasses and containers at their disposal, the specialized judges of the Aurora International Taste Challenge conducted the rigorous evaluation process. Evaluating each product individually and at various stages, based on its unique characteristics, as well as the typical parameters of appearance, aroma, flavor, texture and aftertaste, they took on the enormous challenge of identifying the best of their kind, while capturing in a valid and objective way the excellence of each award-winning product.
Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms participated in the 2026 Taste Challenge of the renowned and difficult international culinary competition in South Africa, with organic extra virgin and gourmet olive oils, as well as organic table olives.
They were judged and evaluated by the AITC 2026 experts, receiving high scores and a total of seven (7) “Olympics of the food industry”.
In detail, they were honored with two (2) Double Gold, three (3) Gold Awards and two (2) Silver Awards, while the awarded products for 2026 are:
PLUS HEALTH GREEN evoo – Double Gold
PLUS HEALTH DMB evoo – Double Gold
AGOURELAIO Early Harvest Organic – Gold Award
SYLLEKTIKON Gourmet evoo – Gold Award
KALAMON OLIVES NATURAL ΒΙΟ - Gold Award
PLUS HEALTH BLUE evoo – Silver Award
OLEOASTRON Gourmet Evoo – Silver Award
The announcement of the results of the famous AITC 2026 competition justifies the efforts of Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms in creating unique flavor combinations in their olive products, while it is now clear that they belong to the global elite of gastronomic foods.
It is also noteworthy that Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms are among the major winners in their category, as olive producers, with these seven (7) "challenges - awards" from the judges in Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa, as this is a very important overall result that no other Greek olive producer has achieved to date.
The excellence of the olive products by Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms is now proven and rewarded at a global gastronomic level, having succeeded in communicating their high-quality goal through the recognition by the impartial experts of AITC 2026, gaining another strong advantage that functions as a compass of authenticity and reliability.
At the same time, these seven (7) "Olympics of the food industry" awards at the international Aurora International Taste Challenge in South Africa for 2026, complete the unique number of 1.440 international awards for Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms, in recognized high-prestige competitions around the world, marking a global record of awards that is evolving and promoting our country all over the world.
