'Heavy-handed' Gelato maker blames airport staff for competition loss

THE owner of an award-winning ice cream shop says he missed out on winning a global competition because of overly zealous staff at Bristol Airport.

- Angus MCINTYRE

Daniele Panunzio, who runs Panunzio’s gelateria on Cotham Hill, travelled to Italy on October 29 to compete in the European heats of the World Gelato Masters.

Although he performed the best out of any UK entrants, he finished 3rd in his group and fractionally missed out on the chance to progress in the competition.

Mr Panunzio said his bittersweet performance could partly be attributed to ‘heavy-handed treatment’ by security staff at Bristol Airport, who did not let the bag containing his all-important gelato mix on the plane because it looked ‘suspicious’.

This led to the ingredients he took to compete with being out of the fridge for far longer than they would otherwise have been.