A new ‘farm to door’ fresh milk delivery service has been launched by Ballylisk Dairies in Tandragee, one of Armagh’s best known dairy farms. Ballylisk Dairies will soon be supplying fresh milk cartons around the Portadown-Armagh City area in a new community initiative aimed especially at the elderly and vulnerable.

Reviving historic doorstep milk deliveries is the brainchild of Dean Wright, who runs the family farm, a leading dairy business, on more than 400 acres of pasture land near Tandragee. This land has been in the family for five generations.

Dean Wright, explaining the decision to revive the doorstep milk delivery service, says: “We are conscious of people, particularly the elderly and those unable to get out to food stores, in the area who prefer fresh milk and would like it delivered to their doorstep. Doorstop milk delivery used to be a feature in the area but it’s now largely disappeared

“We decided to take a hard look at our resources to see how we could help to supply the elderly and vulnerable people and the wider community with nutritious and healthy milk.

“We have our own daily supply of fresh milk from the herd, the essential pasteurising, cooling and processing machinery and the ability to deliver direct to their doorstep on a regular basis. It made sense for us to develop what we see as an important community service.

“It will be a cashless service and the milk will be delivered without any contact with the shopper. The customer can order the milk by phone (028 3833 0044) in advance for delivery whenever they need it, pay by card and we’ll leave it on the doorstep,” he says. There’s also an order form on the Ballyliskwebsite (www.ballyliskofarmagh.com) which can be completed in advance by the customer.

Mr Wright said the initiative will help to maintain employment in the processing plant and farm and could lead to further opportunities for the wider community.

Ballylisk Dairies will supply whole and semi skimmed milk in one and two litre cartons straight from its modern processing plant to customers within radius of 10 miles that takes in Portadown, Tandragee and Armagh City.

“We also have a recognised and successful brand associated with the farm and particularly our award winning cheese which is now sold here as well as in Britain, the Republic of Ireland and further afield.

“What customers can count on above all is premium quality, fresh milk with provenance processed straight from a local source,” he adds.

“We offer total traceability from farm to fork. The farm is self-sufficient from growing its own grain and grass to feed the entire herd that we breed.” The farm has been in the Wright Family from 1820.

Mr Wright continues: “Ballylisk Dairies intends to become plastic free. Our aim is to have a collectable glass bottle service, but under current circumstances we intend to begin this service with plastic cartons.”

The Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards are open for entry online. Chairperson Artie Clifford say they are using a new online entry system, developed with the Submit.com team in Cork.

“As it is a new system, producers will need to register here. It’s a fresh start for your details, for those who have entered before if you are taking part again, we are asking you to start fresh so we can be sure we have the most up to date details.

“If you would like to check back on details for previous years you can just ask, we have the information on file, and we will be happy to help. “

“You can check dates for the year ahead and categories and delivery dates. 

“If you have any questions at all please just get in touch, we are online and available to help at info@irishfoodawards.com”

Northern Ireland sports nutrition brand ACTI-SNACK has launched seven new healthy Nut and Trail Mixes designed to naturally fuel the body and promote recovery in athlete, sports and health enthusiasts.

Designed in partnership with performance nutritionists and adventure athletes, the brand is centred around tailored plant-based products that meet the body’s need to refuel and recover.

Lorna Cooke, a leading Irish sports nutritionist at Sports Medicine NI, has been involved in the development of the product and explains how ACTI-SNACK is different from traditional sports snacks: “ACTI-SNACK has embraced the ‘food first’ approach to fuelling and recovery but has also concentrated on only using natural ingredients which is fantastic. Being ‘food first’ ensures that athletes are better fuelled to reduce risk of injury and improve competition performance.

“What sets ACTI-SNACK apart from traditional protein snacks is the natural nutrition approach as well as unique flavour blends which reduce the problem of flavour fatigue that can be a real issue for endurance athletes.”

Speaking about the launch, Bronagh Clarke, marketing director at ACTI-SNACK, said: “We are an active tribe of runners, cyclists, climbers and health fanatics, who have made it our mission to be the next generation of sports nutrition snacks.

 “We noticed a real gap in the market for healthy sports nutrition and protein snacks that aren’t filled with artificial sweeteners or pseudo health credentials. We set out to create real food snacks that would fuel athletes and those passionate about being healthy to go further and faster, and still deliver great taste and satisfaction.

 “We worked with athletes from a variety of disciplines, as well as consulting certified performance nutritionists to understand what athletes need to energise and reenergise their bodies. The ACTI-SNACK range is hand-crafted and baked and is designed with protein front and centre to help build muscle mass. However, we know athletes need much more than that. We’ve also considered broader micro and macro nutrients that are needed for performance such as potassium, magnesium and iron to fight muscle fatigue. The products are all vegan, gluten free and 100 percent natural.”

 The range is designed to answer different need states, with high energy mixes to fuel athletes before and during an event or training, to all-natural recovery mixes, to low sugar Keto mixes*. As the first and only accredited Keto snacks in the UK and Ireland, these two specific mixes feed growing dietary trends around the growing demand for lower sugar, lower carb options.

 Launching with seven new mixes, the ACTI-SNACK range is specifically designed to equip athletes and adventurers to help them achieve their goals.

• The ‘Keto’ mix is the first accredited Keto snack in the UK and Ireland and comes in two flavours; Salt and Apple Cider Vinegar and Buffalo BBQ

The mixes are available in a variety of sizes from the 40g on the go packs for £1.50, the Power Packs are in available in up to 200g retailing at £4.00.

Over the weekend I was thinking to myself if there is anywhere you need to self isolate, and still have access to great food and drink, then surely it must be Northern Ireland. We have an amazing range of food and drink producers, from the large scale producers who supply GB and beyond, right down to the small cider, beer and spirit producers. That’s why l really cannot understand why people here are continuing to panic buy a range of goods from toilet rolls to UHT milk.There’s really no need for it. Talking to local supermarket bosses, I gather people are even lining up early in the morning to strip goods before the staff have time to put these on the shelves. It is encouraging to see some retailers set aside time for vital healthcare staff working long hours, as well as vulnerable people.

Grocery retailers have highly sophisticated and robust planning systems that balance demand and supply. I’ve heardthat sales of pasta, canned meat and tinned soups spiked by 60 percent in the first week of March with the Prime Minister estimating that £1Billion additional food and drink is stockpiled.

We have an abundance of good food and drink readily available from local suppliers including our farms and processors and I’d urge shoppers here to buy local wherever possible. You can count on the provenance and complete traceability of food that’s grown here, not flown here.

We have a tremendous variety of fresh and packaged food readily available from hygiene-conscious producers. And we have an abundance of premium meat, fish and seafood, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, ready meals, snacks, sides and confectionery from local producers. Why stockpile UHT milk when there’s plenty of fresh and nutritious milk from our farms and dairy companies?

Buying local will help ensure the future of our farmers and processors and thereby secure employment across Northern Ireland. Many of our artisan and smaller producers, as I mentioned last week, are now facing severe cash problems,especially since prudent decisions by local councils have led to the suspension of most outdoor food markets. Many of these self- employed businesses may not qualify for financial support from the Northern Ireland Executive.

More needs to be done to help self-employed artisans over short-term cash flow and in the months ahead.  These companies are the true innovators of the food and drink industry and a great source of delicious and original food and drink. It would be terrible to see some award winning entrepreneurs, being blown away in the current crisis.  Other European countries, most notably Ireland, are helping the self-employed to survive.

I’d also ask the supermarkets and other smaller food retailershere to offer our artisan and smaller food and drink companies opportunities to reach their shoppers. This would help to get over the problem of a lack of awareness among many shoppers of exactly what is local. Perhaps they could provide safe mini market opportunities on-site. Our delis and independent grocers are already doing whatever they can.

I was also encouraged by the decision by ASDA to promise to pay smaller suppliers as quickly as possible. I hope other supermarkets follow ASDA’s lead.

It’s not all gloom and doom. I’ve been heartened by the offers of employment by food processors here for hospitality and other workers made redundant due to COVID-19. They include a number of Food NI members including Finnebroguein Downpatrick, Irwin’s Bakery, Craigavon, Linden Foods in Dungannon, Mash Direct in Comber and Moy Park, also headquartered in Craigavon. Also groups of chefs are coming together to cook for those in need.

We need to stand together to safeguard our people, especially the vulnerable, and do whatever we can to aid the local economy and employment.  Stay safe.

Ewings Seafood, Northern Ireland’s leading fishmonger, has introduced a home delivery service offering fresh and healthy fish.

Based on the Shankill Road in Belfast, the company is providing fish boxes delivered in the city by the company’s11-strong fleet on refrigerated vans. Fish parcels of at least £25 can be ordered and paid for by phone whenever possible for same day delivery. The shop continues to be open to customers.

Director Crawford Ewing explains: “We want to help existing and new customers, who are now unable to visit our shop, to still be able to enjoy healthy and nutritious fish at this very difficult time and so we decided to introduce our first-ever home delivery service. If people call our shop and specify either fresh cod and salmon and smoked salmon they want and pay by card, we’ll deliver straight to their door,” he adds.

The company will also slice and prepare the fish for easy cooking. The company sources fresh fish from trawlers mostly landing daily in Kilkeel.

Ewing’s Seafoods in Belfast, the leading Northern Ireland fish and seafood retailer, has gained the highest global standard for quality food, processing and safety for consumers.

The family business, which has been processing and selling seafood to other retailers as well as leading hotels and restaurants and directly to shoppers, on the Shankill Road for over a century has just been awarded for the sixth consecutive year the British Retail Consortium (BRC) hugely important double A star rating, its highest certificate for a food business.

Ewing’s now supplies major retailers such as Sainsbury’s and top chefs in over 300 restaurants with a range of fresh and processed seafood especially its multi-award winning smoked salmon for which it has won a series of UK Great Taste Awards. A smoked cod loin also gained three gold stars for outstanding taste and quality in the Great Taste Awards.

The company recently completed a new smokery at its Belfast plant for curing fresh and organic fish especially its salmon and cod. It has been smoking fish since its establishment in 1911.

Refuge Hot Chocolate, the award winning producer of delicious thick liquid chocolate, has launched a new and unique Belgian chocolate spread.

Refuge, a social enterprise based in Belfast, has created a spread which is less than half the carbs and sugar of the market leader. The product is made from fair trade cacao and is free-from from palm oil, dairy, nuts, gluten, eggs and wheat.

The new product from Refuge, which has woman a major award in the Irish National Food Awards and continues the small company’s longstanding support for Flourish, a registered charity caring for victims of international trafficking, especially women and children, retails at £3.95 for a 174g jar.

Tara Mullan, who created the small food business in Belfast in 2017, commenting on the new and unique chocolate spread, says: “It’s very unusual to get a chocolate spread that is both dairy and nut free. We’ve achieved this after extensive research and development.

“Another feature of the chocolate spread is that – unlike our original chocolate liquid – the product does not have to be refrigerated.  What this means is that it’s easier to get shops to stock our ambient products. We can also post the product unlike our refrigerated range,” adds Tara.

In addition to its network of stockists, Refuge Hot Chocolate also sells the new spread and other products from its website.

A graduate in Fine and Applied Arts from Ulster University, Tara, a volunteer with Flourish, has developed a success smaller food business. Her products are all based on her own recipes and have been listed by Lidl on the island of Ireland for 200 supermarkets.

“We have several other products including liquid chocolate that can be enjoyed hot or cold, thick chocolate milkshake, solid hot chocolate Melts and ourhot chocolate Blend (finely ground chocolate and other magical things). 

“We offer retail and wholesale sizes,” continues Tara. “Our products are fair trade and as waste free as possible, nut free, egg free and gluten free.  We also have other dairy free options.”