The largest UK farmer-owned dairy cooperative, Northern Ireland headquartered Dale Farm, has become the first company to be named ‘NI Supplier of the Year’ for two consecutive years at the Costcutter Supermarkets Group’s (CSG) annual Supplier of the Year Awards.

Over 150 CSG suppliers from across the UK attended the prestigious awards ceremony at York Racecourse, where Dale Farm was presented with the overall Northern Ireland award in recognition of its first-class dairy products and excellence in service.

Sam Boyd, Regional Sales Manager for Dale Farm said:

“Achieving this accolade for the second-year running represents significant industry recognition for Dale Farm – a real testament to the strength of our ongoing customer partnership, the dedication of our area sales team and the high level of trust placed in us by CSG as a dairy partner.

“2018 was a particularly positive year for our relationship with CSG. We worked in close partnership to adapt and increase our in-store dairy range and have further plans in place to expand our product portfolio over the months ahead. 

“Due to the exceptionally warm summer weather this year, we were able to increase distribution significantly to successfully support CSG stores and meet demand.

“This year we also became the lead supplier of milk to CSG stores, further strengthening our relationship – one which we hope continues long into the future as our businesses support one another’s growth,” Sam said. 

Huw Edwards, Trading Director at CSG added: 

“It is important for us to recognise and celebrate the fantastic service we receive from our suppliers and we congratulate the team at Dale Farm for being named Northern Ireland Supplier of the Year for two years running. This exceptional achievement is proof of Dale Farm’s commitment to providing first class products and service, ensuring our stores offer the consumer the very best in dairy, every day.”

Food NI member Morelli, Northern Ireland’s award winning producer of Italian style ice cream, has launched a spooky flavour in time for Halloween.

Based at Coleraine in county Derry, the family-run processor has introduced a unique and limited edition pumpkin flavour to its existing portfolio of award winning ice creams and sorbets.

Arnaldo Morelli, managing director of Morelli, commenting on the new flavours, says: “We always like to produce an innovative flavour for particular seasons. Our new product is a candied pumpkin ice cream with our special Halloween flavoured cookie ripple.

“We are rolling the new pumpkin ice cream throughout Northern Ireland in time for the festivities,” he adds.

The new flavour follows the company’s most recent success with its frozen yoghurt with raspberry at the prestigious Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards in Dingle, county Kerry.

This product featured yoghurt from another Northern Ireland artisan dairy business, Clandeboye Yoghurt in county Down. It also sources cream from Ballyrashane, also based in Coleraine.

Morelli, which has been in business in Northern Ireland for over a century, has also won UK Great Taste Awards for its Italian-style ice cream and sorbets as well a string of Ice Cream Alliance Awards especially for its double cream vanilla.

Originally from Italy, the Morelli family has been making ice cream in Northern Ireland since 1911 and currently has ice cream shops and franchises across the region, as well as a portable vending pod for festivals and events.

The firm also supplies additional retail and wholesale customers including Spar, Asda, hotels and restaurants. It exports its products to the Republic as a result of a significant deal with Tesco Ireland.

Food NI member Dart Mountain Cheese has added a new hand-made goat’s cheese to its successful portfolio of pasteurised cow’s milk cheeses.

Based near Dungiven in the rural Sperrin Mountains in county Derry, Dart Mountain is an award winning artisan cheese producer owned and managed by husband and wife team Kevin and Julie Hickey, the master cheese maker.

The new goat’s cheese, the company’s first soft cheese, is described by Julie Hickey as “a light and fresh cheese with a slight lemony taste and a delicate rind”.  “I’ve always loved goat’s cheese and have been thinking about creating one for many years,” she says.

“One of the problems we faced was a shortage of local goat’s milk. While there are very few goat farmers in Northern Ireland, we managed to source a supply of quality milk from county Tyrone.

“Our focus as an artisan producer is on sourcing ingredients locally. We were delighted find a supplier in county Tyrone. It’s also our business strategy to name our cheeses after local areas and townlands. So, we named the new goat’s cheese Carraig Ban, the Irish for white rock, a local landmark,” adds Mrs Hickey.

The new cheese, which was launched at the recent Slow Food Festival in Derry, has also been taste tested with local restaurants. “Feedback has been extremely positive from all those who have tasted the cheese.

“It was hugely popular, for instance, at the Slow Food event and has been used by leading chefs to create original dishes,” she continues. “It’s great for pizzas and grills really well,” Mrs Hickey says. The cheese has been in development over the past four months.

Dart Mountain Cheese is part of Tamnagh Foods, the business formed by the couple in 2011. As well as cheese, Tamnagh produces granolas, relishes and chutneys which have won UK Great Taste Awards.

In June 2012, the company converted a disused farm shed into a modern approved food unit – incorporating a modern production kitchen, a cheese production area and specially constructed cheese maturing rooms to facilitate the controlled ageing of cheese. It began producing cheese in 2014, the first being a Sperrin Blue from pasteurised cow’s milk.

Other cheeses in the Dart Mountain portfolio include Banagher Bold, a semi hard cheese washed in craft beer from Derry’s Northbound Brewing Company, Dart Mountain Dusk, an ash coated semi hard aged for four months, Kilcreen, an Alpine style cheese, and Tirkeeran, which is matured for at least seven months.

Food NI is proud to be the Northern Ireland partner for Peas Please.

This is a ground-breaking new initiative focused specifically on veg. Our consumption levels are declining. Peas Please aims to bring together farmers, retailers, fast food and restaurant chains, caterers, processors and government departments with a common goal of making it easier for everyone to eat veg.

Our diets are leading to high levels obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diet-related disease and we need to eat more veg. The project will explore the levers along the supply chain which have the potential to increase vegetable consumption in a sustainable manner. Peas Please recognises that, to date, education programmes have not had the desired impact. So this project will focus on the wealth of opportunities there are, in the supply chain, for improving vegetable intake.

There are 5 peas in our Peas Please Pod:

Pleasure – making our veg delicious whenever we eat it and connecting us to where our veg comes from
Producers –growing veg sustainably at all different scales
Prices – that work for producers and consumers
Products – new ways of getting veg into what we buy and eat every day
Placement – more prominence in shops and on menus, more places to buy it in towns and cities

The Objective

To secure commitments from industry and government to improve the availability, acceptability (including convenience), affordability, and quality of the vegetable offer in shops, schools, fast food restaurants and beyond, and in turn stimulate increased vegetable consumption among the UK public, particularly children and those on a low income.

Click here to read the Commitments framework 2017-2022, and click here to see who has pledged already!

We would love to secure some Pledges from Northern Ireland. If you would like more information, please contact Lindsay on lindsay@nigoodfood.com.