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Ghanaian beer brands, Club Premium Lager Beer and Castle Milk Stout, won two-star Superior Taste award at the 2009 International Taste Quality Awards, held by the International Taste and Quality Institute (iTQi). Stone Strong Lager Beer won one star. All three beers are products of Accra Brewery Ltd. South African premium beer brand Hansa Marzen, which won a Superior Taste award at this year's ceremony, was the only one from the continent to receive the coveted three stars. Other African iTQi winners were scarce. Besides the three beer brands from Ghana, a brand of pasta from the North African country of Tunisia won a two- and one-star award respectively. The Brussels-based iTQi is an organisation of international chefs and sommeliers who annually acknowledge the finest food and drink from around the world. The programme is open to any branded or processed products that are sold in stores. Judges are drawn from 12 top culinary and sommeliers associations around Europe. The judging panel then blind-tastes the products. Because the products are presented without packaging or identification, judges are able to test fairly and without bias. iTQi is quick to stress that the Taste Quality programme is not a competition; therefore all products are evaluated on their own merits. The three-star award is the highest given by iTQi, and is indicative of "exceptional products with 90 percent and more of the total marks". In 2009 a total of 796 products were tested to the judges' exacting specifications. Of these, 161 received the one-star award, 295 won two stars, and just 69 took home a three-star award. Products that can boast the Superior Taste award gain an instant marketing edge, helped by detailed comments and suggestions from the judges, international media coverage, and differentiation from competitors.