The meat industry has given the seal of approval to a sizzling selection of sausages.

Procter’s Sausages, which has shops in Ipswich and Colchester, is celebrating after picking up a string of awards for its bangers.

It scooped a gold and a silver award at the East of England BPEX Regional Roadshow and Pork Product Excellence Awards 2012-2013, held at the Norfolk Showground, and picked up the prized Champion title for its ‘Essex Sausage’.

The annual event drew in more than 125 products from butchers in the region, across 10 categories. Procter’s particularly impressed judges in the Traditional Pork Sausage category, clinching the overall title.

Boss Simon Protheroe said: “We’re delighted to have done so well. We love our sausages but it’s great to get approval from our meat industry peers. Awards like this are great for local awareness and give us a chance to shout about our sausages from the rooftops.

“The Essex Sausage is one that we’re particularly fond of.”

We created it in response to requests from a number of chefs for a certain style of sausage. It’s based on a traditional recipe with ginger and mace flavourings running through it; combined with pepper it makes a gently spicy sausage without being too “out there”. It’s a big favourite with our customers.

“We use only the best ingredients in our products, combining them ourselves to create sausages with great texture and taste. We’re all about local sourcing of the best produce, so all of our pork is local and Freedom Foods assured.”

Simon has been in the business for 19 years and has been entering the BPEX roadshows for a good few of these. He said: “There are two real benefits to the roadshows. In the first instance, it’s great to get our products tasted by senior figures in the industry and get the thumbs up from them. The second part is the local marketing and great publicity we get from the awards.”

BPEX butchery and product development manager, Keith Fisher, said: “It was great to return to the East of England to kick start our 2012-2013 roadshow and awards season. The butchers who attended did not fail to impress and presented us with a very high standard of pork products. In fact, we had increased numbers of entries and almost a full complement of awards. Procter’s Sausages did a great job to claim the Champion title of Traditional Pork Sausage we wish them well with their success.”