Whittaker's has taken out the Reader's Digest Most Trusted of all Brands award for the 10th consecutive year – an unprecedented achievement.

The Whittaker family's long-standing belief that 'best is always better” has stood it in great stead says Reader's Digest Australasian editor-in-chief Louise Waterson.

Winning the top title 10 consecutive times is an incredible and unprecedented result across the Australasia region and Whittaker's should take a bow, she says.

Fourth generation chocolate maker Holly Whittaker says chocolate is a Whittaker family passion dating back to 1896 and it's the family's 'relentless quest for perfection” that has allowed it to consistently craft New Zealand's finest chocolate.

'We are committed to making world-class chocolate, and that means never compromising on quality, taste, or size. We are also committed to supporting our wonderful staff, sourcing ethical and sustainable ingredients, and following best practice in manufacturing,” she says after hearing of the latest award.

Whittaker's large team of salivating supporters can rest assured, their most trusted company will not be resting on its laurels.

The Whittaker's team talks of its recently launched compostable peanut slab wrapper trial, continued support of iconic Kiwi charities, investment in machinery and facility advancements, and 'above and beyond efforts” to nurture direct relationships with cocoa farmers.

A total of 72 categories featured in this year's Trusted Brands survey – the 22nd consecutive annual survey commissioned by Reader's Digest.

More than 1800 New Zealanders, from a broad demographic, were asked to select three of their most trusted brands for each category. They then rated those brands on the 1-10 scale for trust.

Categories were varied including, for example, banks, coffee machines, dog food, funeral insurance, gas and electricity providers, hearing services, kindergarten centre operators, wine, pain relief, supermarkets, vitamins and supplements, and vegetarian foods.

Categories featured change with the times, and new ones are often added. Newcomers this year, for example, are the Cookies category, (won by Cookie Time, with Farmbake and Cadbury highly commended);Honey category (won by Arataki with Manuka Health and Airborne highly commended); and Coffee Roasted and Ground category (won by Robert Harris with Jed's and Avalanche highly commended).

The top 20 winners - that scored higher in their respective categories than the other brands polled - are as follows:

1. Whittaker's 11. Weber
2. Toyota 12. Huntley & Palmers
3. Samsung 13. Sleepyhead
4. Tip Top 14. Resene
5. St John NZ 15. Bridgestone
6. Mainland 16. Yates
7. Dettol 17. Canon
8. Mitre 10 18. Griffins
9. Anchor 19. Dilmah
10. Sony 20. Persil

Under each category one winner and two highly commended placings were awarded. To find out who you can officially trust, see the full results of all 72 categories in the May edition of Reader's Digest or visit www.trustedbrands.co.nz

Whittaker's also won NZ Iconic Brand Category for the ninth consecutive year. Brands closest to toppling Whittaker's from the top step of that podium this year were Tip Top and Watties.