Food NI CEO, Michele Shirlow, awarded MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2017

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Food NI Chief Executive Michele Shirlow has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, receiving the award in recognition for her services to the food and drink sector in Northern Ireland.

Michele is the driver behind Food NI, the membership organisation designed to connect the supply chain through a positive promotional message about Northern Ireland’s food and drink and was the driving force behind the successful Northern Ireland Year of Food & Drink 2016 campaign.

She was personally responsible for raising £800,000 private sector funding from retailers and industry to develop the ‘Northern Ireland – Good Food Is In Our Nature’ campaign. The success of this campaign led to the formation of Food NI.  She was tasked with setting up the new body, established on the recommendation of the Food Strategy Implementation Partnership (FSIP), and in 2007 was appointed inaugural Chief Executive.

From 2004 to 2011 Michele was Governor of Oakwood Integrated Primary School and a Member of their Finance & Recruitment Committee. Over the years she has been involved with extensive charity work, including donating food, cookery equipment and time to a number of not for profit organisations and charities, including Women’s Institute talks, Artisan Food Group talks, Charity Cookery Nights in aid of Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children, Open Farm Weekend, Women’s Groups and School Groups.

Following on from Year of Food and Drink 2016, Food NI recently announced a five-year plan to further promote Northern Ireland’s produce overseas and at home.  The ‘Taste the Greatness’ strategy is aimed at telling our quality food stories in an impactful, far-reaching and compelling way, by promoting Northern Ireland as a place where the greatness of our passion, people, places and produce will be heard on an international scale.

Food NI Chairman, John Best said, “On behalf of myself and the Food NI board, we are delighted that our Chief Executive Michele Shirlow has been awarded the MBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours.  We feel that this award is a very worthy recognition of her contribution to the N.I. agri-food and drink sector. Her commitment, passion and sheer determination has ensured that Food NI has become the lead organisation in promoting local produce and producers to consumers.

“As well as her central role in the Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink, Michele’s other initiatives have included establishing restaurant weeks, assisting in the significant growth of food tour start-ups and working in partnership with local councils throughout Northern Ireland to promote food networks and events such as the Legenderry Food Festival and the BBC Good Food Show in Belfast” added John.

On hearing the news Michele commented.’ It has been an honour to work with Northern Ireland farmers, producers and restaurateurs over the last ten years, their enthusiasm and passion for what they do has made it a real pleasure. Thank you to all of the Board and all the team at FoodNI for their hard work. I feel hugely privileged to receive this award and want to thank everyone who worked to make the Year of Food and Drink such a success. ’

Mash Direct Gain New Deal Direct To The UK

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Mash Direct have landed a new deal with one of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains, Tesco.

An independent, family owned farming and food production enterprise launched by Martin and Tracy Hamilton in 2004 at their family farm, Mash Direct is the market leader in quality, convenient ‘field to fork’ vegetable and potato dishes ranging from traditional accompaniments of mashed potato and champ to complete ready-meals.
The company were named Company of the Year at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards 2016 and won the SIAL Gold Innovation Award in the Middle East for their Crispy Vegetable Bakes, a first international award for the company.

The new deal will see five of Mash Direct’s products go into 73 Tesco stores across England starting on the 14th June 2017. 

Mash Direct are celebrating the opportunity of being showcased on the end of aisle in Tesco stores by launching their products with a special, introductory price of £1 per pack.

Already available in over 160 Tesco outlets across Scotland and Northern Ireland and an additional 130 stores in the Republic of Ireland, Mash Direct are setting the trend for convenient and healthy vegetable side-dishes.

Sales Director, Lance Hamilton said: “This is such a great opportunity for us to showcase the heritage varieties of vegetables on our family farm, grown specifically for their superior flavour. We already have a strong working relationship with Tesco and we are looking forward to building our reputation in these new stores.”

The five products launching into the Tesco stores from the 14th June are: Chilli Baby Bakes, Green Cabbage, Crispy Vegetable Bakes, Potato Croquettes and Potato Cakes, RRP £1 per pack.

Comber Earlies Food Festival Among Most Successful Local Food Festivals

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Column by Michele Shirlow for Farm Week

The good news for potato lovers is that the quality of New Season Comber Earlies, one of our three EU protected foods, is excellent and they are already in the shops. Our potato processing members are expecting a good season…and they deserve a decent return on their investment in time and other resources. This sets us up well for the annual Comber Earlies Food Festival on Saturday, now among the most successful and enjoyable of local food festivals.

Held in the square and the car park of St Mary’s Church of Ireland, the event attracts thousands of people from across County Down and Belfast who have an opportunity to sample the very best of local food and drink being handcrafted largely by dozens of artisan firms, most of them Food NI members.

This year the festival is hosting a delegation from the Mayor of Qrendi in Malta. Qrendi is a region which also celebrates its local potatoes and artisan foods. It’s highly encouraging that the council is collaborating internationally and comparing and contrasting how we promote the local produce of each region.

There’s also plenty to entertain youngsters visiting the show and lots of delicious street food. Plus an opportunity to see demonstrations from Paula McIntyre, Lucas Hollweg, Danny Millar and to spot Charles Campion who will be circulating among the crowd.

The historic Comber Early, harvested from farms within the area, of course, is the main attraction. It’s an important celebration which is helping to revive interest in earlies, the first of locally grown tubers, and potatoes in general. It’s an event I enjoy enormously and one Food NI has supported from the very start.

What’s also important about the annual festival is the focus it provides on how companies here are using potatoes to come up with innovative products that make it easier than ever before to include these in meals at home. Restaurants are also including Combers in their dishes and listing the potatoes on their menus, a practice we’ve been working strenuously through imaginative initiatives such as our chefs’ steering group, to encourage.

This practice is hugely important because it helps to create awareness of the variety of tasty food and drink now being produced here by an ever growing network of creative businesses, many of them deeply rooted on the family farms that we committed to promote and support in our Taste the Greatness strategic action plan for the growth of our most important industry over the next five years.

The Comber Earlies Food Festival is also the first in a series of similar events celebrating the quality and provenance of our excellent food and drink. The other EU protected foods – Lough Neagh Eels and Armagh Bramley Apples – will also be showcased over the summer and early autumn.

They are all worthy of your support, because the future of these and other local food and drink products is heavily dependent on support from local consumers. Comber Earlies certainly deserve as much popular support as possible, because growing the potatoes, to ensure they are available early in the summer, is expensive and margins tight. As a result, the number of growers has been declining over recent years and there are now fewer than 20 farms producing earlies. Reversing this decline is essential to protect this iconic local food.

Mourne Mountain Brews to hit shelves of Sainsbury’s

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Craft beer brewer Mourne Mountains Brewery has secured a deal to supply to Sainsbury’s stores throughout Northern Ireland.

From 11th June, Sainsbury’s is stocking three beers from the Warrenpoint-based brewery’s core range, Mourne East Coast IPA, Mourne Gold Pale Ale and Mourne Mist Pilsner.

This news follows the brewery’s listing with Marks and Spencer in April with Great Taste award-winning brew Red Trail.

Commenting on the deal, brewery founder Connaire McGreevy said: “We are absolutely delighted to be supplying to another major supermarket in Northern Ireland, extending the choice available for discerning beer drinkers.

“As a local company that prides itself on its use of local resources, it is massively exciting to feature alongside established global brands, offering consumers the option to support local brewing and produce. The bonus for our customers is that as well as knowing they’re supporting a local business, the beer really is top notch.

“We have received great support from the local hospitality industry since launching in 2015, with award-winning restaurants including Bull & Ram in Ballynahinch and Wine & Brine in Moira, amongst other great dining establishments, all stocking our beers.

“We’re currently producing the equivalent of 250,000 bottles of beer per year to meet demand and expect that to grow significantly over the next year,” he added.

Mourne Mountains Brewery is one of only five NI-based breweries to achieve the Safe and Local Supplier Approval (SALSA) accreditation award, which allows the sale of products to national retailers who require the accreditation from their small suppliers.

Mourne Mountains Brewery produces Mourne Gold, a pale ale, Mourne Mist, a Pilsner, Red Trail, the red IPA, East Coast, an IPA and Big Rock, a German style wheat beer as the core range, with regular limited edition specials released throughout the year.

Red Trail red IPA won two stars at the Great Taste Awards 2016, the only beer from Northern Ireland to achieve that accolade in 2016. East Coast IPA, which is included in the Sainbury’s range, won a silver medal at the 2016 Alltech Dublin Craft Beer Cup, the only NI beer to be recognised with an award that year.

Celeb Line-Up and Early Bird Tickets Announced for BBC Good Food Show

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Taste your way around Northern Ireland and uncover flavours from the UK and Republic of Ireland producers. Indulge in a feast of amazing food and drink, and be inspired by iconic chefs and local heroes. It’s a truly delicious day out in the heart of Belfast!

The BBC Good Food Show Northern Ireland brings together some of the nation’s favourite chefs, the region’s very best producers of food, drink and artisan produce as well as state of the art kitchenware and gadgets.

This year’s show will feature British two-star Michelin chef at the London restaurant Le Gavroche, Michel Roux Jr., The Hairy Bikers, John Torode, BBC British Bake Off’s Nadiya Hussain and Northern Ireland’s Paula McIntyre doing live cookery demonstrations and tasting sessions throughout the show.

Once again, Food NI will have a dedicated area for local producers at the BBC Good Food Show this November where we will  be showcasing Northern Ireland’s quality, award-winning food and drink producers, and encouraging you to ‘Taste the Greatness’.

With a strong focus on regional producers, visitors to the Show will be able to delve into the wealth of fantastic produce that Northern Ireland has to offer. The Food NI Pavilion will give visitors the opportunity to discover, taste, engage and buy from local producers first hand. This area of the Show is a must-visit spot for any food fan wanting to improve their knowledge of the Northern Irish food scene.

Early bird tickets are on sale now!
For more information on tickets and show times visit BBC Good Food Show Northern Ireland.

Open Farm Weekend 2017

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Food, farming and fun, what’s not to love!

The Bank of Ireland Open Farm Weekend was established in 2012 as an annual showcase event for the Northern Ireland farming industry, a celebration of our farmers and the food industry.

Each farm event is unique and will be organised primarily by the host farmer. Visitors to the farm will have a free VIP pass to see the exact processes involved and the care and dedication that goes into food production while hopefully gaining an understanding of how important local farming is for everyone’s future. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the farmer and, on certain farms, be able to taste and buy the food, highlighting the importance of supporting your community by buying local.

This year’s Open Weekend will take place on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th June with Armagh Apple Farm, Castlescreen Farm, Hillstown, Buchanan’s Turkeys and Long Meadow Cider to name a few taking part.

For more information on participating farms visit Open Farm Weekend.