Judging has begun on the shortlist for the first Food Heartland Awards in association with NFU Mutual, led by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. Featuring 12 categories, the awards, which will take place on 25th May at Craigavon Civic Centre, will showcase the stars of the borough’s local produce, the people behind the thriving agri-food sector as well as highlight the sector’s potential for growth and positive impact on the local economy. This new initiative, only launched in March, received an overwhelming response across all categories but particularly within the categories showcasing the best use of local ingredients and best use of two of Northern Ireland’s three EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) products – Armagh Bramley Apples and Lough Neagh Eels – both which are indigenous to the Borough.

The Food Heartland Awards feature 12 individual awards categories* which reflect the passion, innovation and excellence of the local industry. Categories include Best New Start Business, sponsored by JPH Law, Innovation Award sponsored by Avondale Foods, Best use of a PGI Product sponsored by Tourism Northern Ireland and Rising Star, sponsored by Southern Regional College. High profile, local food and Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink ambassadors Paula McIntyre and chef Niall McKenna formed part of the judging panel which ensures an impartial and expert opinion on the shortlisted candidates and eventual winners.

Looking forward to the Awards Gala evening, Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, Cllr Darryn Causby said: “I am delighted that our first Food Heartland Awards in association with NFU Mutual has received an overwhelming entry response. The Awards will not only recognise the hard-work and dedication of local food companies but celebrate the abundance of top quality produce and producers that exists within our borough. The Northern Ireland Year of Food & Drink 2016 provides us with a fantastic opportunity to showcase our wonderful products and businesses on a global scale as well as encourage innovation and growth which will only serve to have a positive impact on our local economy. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the shortlisted entries and look forward to the awards gala evening on 25th May at Craigavon Civic Centre.” Roger Wilson, Chief Executive of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council commented: “Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s number one priority is to grow the local economy and the agri-food sector is a priority growth area. This was very much demonstrated at the start of the year when we launched the Food Heartland brand in Carn Industrial Estate, Craigavon, to champion the quality and volume of food production in the borough. Against the backdrop of the Northern Ireland Year of Food 2016 the awards provides us with the perfect opportunity to celebrate the stars of our local produce as well as the people behind this thriving sector. The Food Heartland Awards in association with NFU Mutual is a fantastic opportunity for this sector to showcase their excellence and innovation to Northern Ireland and beyond.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our associate sponsor NFU Mutual as well as our category sponsors for their support and to wish all of those shortlisted good luck for the Awards evening on 25th May.”
Libby Morgan, from NFU Mutual, Associate Sponsor of the Food Heartland Awards said:
“On behalf of NFU Mutual we are delighted to be the associate sponsor for the First Food Heartland Awards. This is a fantastic initiative which has a huge connection with many of our Northern Ireland customers in the agri-food sector. The awards are a great opportunity for us to show our support for this vibrant and innovative sector as well as to play our part in encouraging continued innovation and growth. We congratulate everyone who has been shortlisted and look forward to welcoming and celebrating all of the achievements at the Awards evening on 25th May.”

Food Heartland Awards – Shortlisted Finalists

The Awards gala evening will be hosted at Craigavon Civic & Conference Centre on Wednesday 25th May. Tickets priced at £50 plus VAT. For further details visit www.foodheartland.com or e-mail foodheartland@ndevents.com. Follow Food Heartland Awards on Facebook Food Heartland and twitter@FoodHeartlandNI #FHLAwards16.

Comber Farmers’ Market has teamed up with NI Food Tours to bring people to Comber to sample and taste a variety of different foods on Thursday 5 May 2016. The tour will leave Ards Visitor Information Centre, 31 Regent Street, Newtownards at 10.00am, travel to Comber to visit Comber Farmer’s Market followed by morning tea, home baked scones and cakes in St Mary’s Church Hall.

After a brief walk across the Square to Indie Fude Deli, guests will be treated to a cheese demonstration by Michael Thompson who makes his Young Buck hand crafted blue cheeses in Newtownards. The group will be picked up by the coach again and taken to The Old Schoolhouse Inn on the Ballydrain Road where award winning chef Will Brown will be cooking them a gourmet two course lunch before returning to Newtownards for 3.00pm.

The tour costs £30 per person and includes the coach, morning tea or coffee and cake, food samples, lunch and the services of an experienced tour guide. Book your tickets through Ards Visitor Information Centre by dropping in to 31 Regent Street, Newtownards, or call them on 9182 6846 and use your debit or credit card or book online by visiting https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ardsandnorthdown

Skinny Malinkys, Northern Ireland’s leading cold-pressed juice company, has won business for four products from Fortnum and Mason in London, the upmarket department store.

Based in Belfast, Skinny Malinkys is supplying four of its healthy cold-pressed fruit and veggie juices that are naturally low in sugar to the store in London’s Piccadilly.
The cold-pressed juices contain up to 70 per cent raw vegetables, such as kale, ginger, parsley, carrots, beetroot, cucumbers, courgettes and fruit, including apples, pears, pineapples and limes.

The listing from Fortnum and Mason is the company’s first significant retail business in London.

Formed in November 2013 by experienced marketer Paula Heaney, the small business has developed a range of healthy cold-pressed drinks that are delicious, nourishing and cleansing.

Each juice recipe has been cleverly designed to provide a range of benefits and nutrients such as:

Carrot kick-start – a fresh and zingy blend of carrot, apple, ginger and lime to kick start energy levels, the immune system and circulation.

Full Body Boost – a body boosting blend of apple, pear, courgette, cucumber, pineapple, beetroot and kale that helps boost stamina and hydrates, its a natural sports drink.

Lean Green Detoxifying Machine – an alkalising blend of apples, cucumber, courgette, pear, kale, iceberg, parsley and lime that helps strengthen the immune system, eliminates toxins and promotes bone health.

DiJUICEtive Aid – a soothing blend of cucumber, apple, courgette, fennel, pear, lime that calms the digestive system, helps protect the skin and reduces inflammation.

Commenting of the business with Fortnum and Mason, Paula says: “I am delighted to have this amazing opportunity to showcase my products in such a prestigious store and in a market that I’ve been targeting for growth. It’s a fabulous platform for the business and should help me to develop a strong foothold there.”

The company has developed a strong base in Northern Ireland for its product portfolio.

Skinny Malinkys – the name is of Scottish origin and first appeared in print in the early 19th century and simply means a slim person – is the outcome of Paula’s longstanding interest in healthy products including those that can be used to assist people recovering from illness or medical treatments.
“The juices are cold-pressed as this retains 50 per cent more nutrients than any other type of juicing and uses high pressure process (HPP) to give us shelf life by putting the juice under massive pressure to kill any microbes that could cause spoilage. This gives us a 40 day refrigerated shelf life. This retains the nutrients as it is never heat treated or pasteurised.

“Drinking fruit and veggie juice is a really easy and tasty way to get your five-a-day, and at Skinny Malinkys we made sure from the outset that our juice is actually healthy.” she adds.

She brings to Skinny Malinkys experience working with major organisations in New York and Dublin and carried out extensive market research in the US.

The company employs a food nutritionist to ensure it is providing juice with the highest possible nutritional value and keeping it naturally low in sugar.

A research trip to health conscious California encouraged Paula Heaney to take a giant step into setting up her own small business specialising in super-healthy, enzyme-packed juices, smoothies, dips, salads and soups.
Paula always had an interest in healthy foods and had run a successful organic shop in her Londonderry home-town.
Running her own small business was always something she wanted to do. At school, she’d been managing director of a ‘footprints to business’ company. Her parents have owned their own business too in the maiden city.
A marketing graduate with hands-on experience including a short spell working in New York for a major corporation, Paula set up Skinny Malinky’s Juices and Smoothies earlier in the year to specialise in cold pressing fresh fruits and vegetables. Cold pressing has been shown to be the best way to preserve essential enzymes and vitamins required for a healthy body.
“I knew it was time after extensive research into the viability of the market in Belfast, a research trip to California and with the global trend towards living a healthier lifestyle,” she says. The name Skinny Malinky is taken from an old Derry childrens’ rhyme – Skinny Malink Melodeon legs, big banana feet, went to the doctors but couldn’t get a seat.
Initial funding for the small business came from a redundancy package. “Redundancies were offered at work and I jumped at it. While others were afraid of losing their jobs, I was skipping round the office as I was delighted that I would finally be free, yet apprehensive that from this moment on I would have no regular income – it was time to sink or swim! And swimming strongly she certainly is.
“Initially I bought the best ‘juice bar’ juicer on the market, but I soon realised that delivering to people every day as I planned was costly and time consuming. I needed to invest in a juicer that kept the enzymes alive in the juice as these are what makes a fresh juice so good for you.
“This was very expensive. I had a business credit card but only £500 limit which had to be cleared within 38 days. We had no overdraft and limited cash flow. I decided to call our Ulster Bank business advisor who arranged for us to have our limit raised to £2,000 – unheard of for a recently opened business. Doing this allowed us the time to make the money for the juicer, pay it off in time and refresh our cash flow.”
The small company’s aim is to provide the highest quality product at the best possible price.
A “huge amount of repeat business” encouraged her to invest in further growth. Customers also included the BBC’s Stephen Nolan , who called in to request a ‘cleanse’ drink for his on going weight battle.
Juices change daily and seasonally depending on what produce is available. She sources the ingredients freshly every day from a local supplier.

“Our bodies can do amazing things, all they need are the right ingredients, that’s why here at Skinny Malinky’s our aim is to make healthy, nourishing food accessible to as many people as possible hence our great prices.”

She says the juices are completely raw, unpasteurized and unadulterated, packed with live enzymes, vitamins, trace minerals and other vital elements for health. They can help with weight loss, detoxand cleanse your system, increase energy, improve complexion, help with healthy hair and strong nails, relieve constipation, counter arthritis, ME and chronic fatigue, help treat eczema, psoriasis, urticaria and rosacea.

“The juices, smoothies and soups that I’ve developed from my own recipes are made from fresh ingredients on a daily basis and are cold pressed to preserve enzymes and vitamins.”

The juice cleansers, she says, rid the body of unwanted toxins, give the digestive system a much needed rest and infuse the body with nutrients. “Juicing fruit and vegetables separates the live enzymes, vitamins, minerals and naturally energizing sugars from the fibre. With the fibre separated the body does not need to ‘stop’ to digest the juice saving energy and giving the digestive system a rest.

“Instead all the nutrients are infused directly into the bloodstream and this gives vital organs essential nourishment. In turn this flood of nutrients replaces the toxins in the body and helps to excrete them, resulting in the body having more energy, feeling healthier, improved skin, nails, hair, eyes and even ailment repair,” she adds.

Paula also turned to Invest NI for help in developing the products by means of an Innovation Voucher. The voucher is enabling the company to increase the commercial appeal by extending the shelf-life of its nine fresh fruit and vegetable juices and four smoothies. Her aim is to develop business outside Northern Ireland by means of her website.

Paula also needed advice on the essential nutritional information required for her labels. She has been able to use the voucher to access this from Loughry campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise at Cookstown.
Smaller companies selling fresh foods often find it difficult to balance the costs of just having the right amount of products available for sale to avoid waste.

Tourism NI today unveiled the shortlist of nominations for the 2016 Northern Ireland Tourism Awards in association with Tennent’s NI.

The sought-after awards, which recognise outstanding performers in the tourism industry, will this year be presented over twelve different categories.

Winners will be announced at a gala ceremony to be held on Thursday 26th May at St Columb’s Hall, Derry~Londonderry. A shortlist of 37 has been drawn up by a panel of judges. Two additional special awards will be announced on the night for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism and a Local Tourism Champion.

A record number of entries were received from across Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the shortlist John McGrillen, Chief Executive Tourism NI, said:

“There’s no doubt these awards are the biggest night of the tourism industry calendar and this year we have the added value of the unique and historic venue of St Columb’s Hall as our venue. Planning is well underway to make the evening a real celebration and a showcase of our tourism talent, particularly in the context of Year of Food and Drink”.

“The Northern Ireland Tourism Awards are about celebrating the very best practice within our industry. Winning an award is an independent and prestigious accolade for a business’s tourism offering, professionalism and hard work. It’s also a badge of quality that boosts PR and marketing efforts.
“Year in, year out, businesses of all types across the tourism industry strive to ensure that our visitors have a great experience, and so it is vital that the people, places and organisations that create these experiences are recognised and rewarded. Our annual awards ceremony is about celebrating the very best practice within our industry, and Tourism NI wants to encourage businesses of all sizes and shapes to succeed.”
Brian Beattie, Marketing Director for Tennent’s NI, added; “We are thrilled to continue our support for the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards which are recognised as a highlight of our tourism year, encouraging and rewarding excellence and highlighting the vital importance of tourism as a major and fast-growing contributor to the Northern Ireland economy. This year we are particularly looking forward to taking the grand gala awards ceremony to Derry-Londonderry this year and we look forward to a night which celebrates our region’s unique sociability.

“On behalf of all of everyone at Tennent’s NI may I extend sincere congratulations and best wishes to all who have made it to this year’s shortlist. We are very well aware of the passion and hard work which lie behind every entry and you all deserve your moment to shine.

“First-class products, service and events will all be honoured at the awards but, above all, we honour the first class people who are making tourism happen today.”
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Jonathan Bell said: “The Northern Ireland Tourism Awards are about celebrating all that is great within our tourism industry. The Northern Ireland tourism product has never been in a stronger position and we are well on our way towards reaching our long term goal to make tourism here a £1 billion industry by 2020. We have much to be proud of both in our tourism offering and of our tourism providers.
It is the quality of our hotels, festivals and restaurants that attract visitors to Northern Ireland and these awards are about recognising the excellence within this industry and ensuring that hard-work and innovation are recognised. I would like to congratulate all of those who have been shortlisted in these prestigious awards and wish them every success on the night.”
Best event or festival experience will be opening for public vote until Thursday 12th May. To vote for your favourite, or to book your place at this year’s awards, please visit www.nitourismawards.com

People across Northern Ireland are being encouraged to eat cake, and fill a wellie to help raise vital funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Northern Ireland as part of the charity’s national annual fundraising event, ‘Mayday’.

Organised by RNLI Northern Ireland branch, a series of events will see the staff at local independent coffee house Ground Espresso Bars’ 17 stores, wearing wellies on Saturday 30th April 2016, and encouraging their customers to support the Mayday campaign by helping them ‘fill a wellie with pennies’.

The RNLI’s Mayday campaign which recently launched this week runs through to the May Day bank holiday on Monday 2nd May, and their signature wellie pins will also be available to purchase in Ground Espresso Bars throughout the campaign for just £1.

Nicola Kelly, Community Fundraising Manager in Northern Ireland said: ‘RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews’ around Northern Ireland are willing to drop everything to go and save lives at sea when their pagers beep.

The Mayday campaign is our own call for help, as we rely on the generosity of the public to help us continue our lifesaving service, which we operate day and night, 365 days a year.’

The Mayday fundraising events in Ground Espresso Bars will have a yellow welly theme, in a nod to the essential kit that the RNLI’s lifeboat crew members wear on their feet when they go out to sea to save lives.

Karen Gardiner, Director of Ground Espresso Bars said: ‘All 17 of our Ground Espresso Bars stores are delighted to be coming on board for the Mayday campaign. Our customers are always very supportive of Ground’s charity initiatives and we’re really urging them to plunge into their pockets and purses during the campaign to back the good work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Northern Ireland.’

The charity is encouraging people to show their support by using the hashtag #MaydayEveryday on social media, buying and wearing a Mayday yellow welly pin badge, hosting or supporting a fundraising event, or donating online.

Visit RNLI.org/Mayday to donate, to order a pin badge or to see what other ways you can support the RNLI’s Mayday campaign. Alternatively, text MAYDAY to 70300 to donate £3*.

Money raised through Mayday fundraising events will support the RNLI’s lifesaving work in Northern Ireland – it could be used to fund crew training, buy new crew kit, or contribute towards the running costs of a lifeboat station.

The RNLI operates 237 lifeboat stations around the UK and Ireland. Last year, RNLI lifeboat crews launched 8,228 times, rescuing 7,973 people and saving 348 lives.

PJ McCague has recently been appointed as General Manager of Kettyle Irish Foods, part of the Linden Food Group, which is based in Lisnaskea Co. Fermanagh.

PJ was previously employed as General Manager with McCarren Meats, a Pork & Bacon factory based in Cavan Town. Over the years PJ has worked in a variety of rolls within the Snack Foods industry with Largo Foods Ltd based at Gweedore in Donegal and Ashbourne, Meath.

Prior to joining Largo Foods Ltd., PJ owned and operated Clones Poultry Processors Ltd, in Monaghan, a dedicated Poultry Boning factory supplying poultry to food-service and catering outlets.

“PJ will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to Kettyle. He has a very strong track record in the industry and we hope to benefit significantly from his time spent in County Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal and Meath. Said: Maurice Kettyle – Managing Director

Speaking about his recent appointment PJ said: “I am delighted to have joined not just Kettyle, but the Linden Food Group with its strong reputation for quality, innovation, NPD and for generally being a progressive participant in the food industry on the island of Ireland. Kettyle themselves are a market leader both domestically and further afield and I believe are perfectly positioned to achieve our very ambitious sales targets for 2016 and beyond.
I am now very proud to be part of that Kettyle tradition and I look forward to the challenges and successes that this role may bring.”