Gioia's macarons win the taste stakes at food sector 'Oscars'

Macarons produced by a Songjiang company were awarded a "Two Star Medal" at the Superior TasteAward, a competition dubbed the "Oscars" of the food sector.

Shanghai Gioia Food Co, a Songjiang company specializing in making the French pastry for seven years, bagged the international prize in late January.

"It is the first prize a Chinese macaron company has won in this competition," said Li Jianbing, general manager of Gioia Food.

The Superior TasteAward is given by the Brussels-based International Taste Institute annually. Its judging panel includes more than 200 Michelin chefs and gourmets from 15 European cuisine and wine tasting associations. Every year more than 100 top food companies globally participate in the event, showcasing more than 2,000 products.

Macarons, a French pastry with subtle taste and delicate shapes, are especially popular among young girls. Their major ingredient, however, is not flour, but almond powder, egg white and icing sugar. In addition to their high ingredient cost, the baking process is also complex.

"In 2014 when our company was founded, the entire macaron industry in China hadn't started industrial production. Some hotels and bakeries handmade them. Market supply was limited, but demand was high," said Li, who was determined to start a semiautomatic macaron production line at Gioia Food.

Their first trial yielded a qualification ratio of only 50 percent. People started to show skepticism about the production mode, saying, "Handmade macarons have a qualification rate of only 50 or 60 percent, how can a machine increase the qualification ratio?"

Li and his team members, however, didn't give up. They tried all means to explore the food processing rules.

"Temperature and humidity have a direct impact on the qualification ratio, and the same ingredients in different seasons will affect the quality as well," said Li. "Take eggs for example. In summer, chickens tend to drink more and the eggs they produce will have 1 or 2 percent more water content. The slightest difference will greatly affect the qualification rate of our macarons."

Through years of efforts, Gioia Food now has a macaron qualification ratio at a stable 98 percent. So far it has acquired about 20 domestic patents and 5 international patents, and passed both the international food safety FSSC22000 and hazard analysis HACCP tests.