Steaks from Northern Ireland producers, especially Food NI member Hannan Meats, have been rated among the world’s tastiest and best quality.

Hannan, the multi-award winning beef, pork and lamb processor headed by Peter Hannan, a Food NI board member, gained golds for its Himalayan salt aged fillet and sirloin and silver for Himalayan salt aged ribeye at the recent World Steak Challenge in Amsterdam.

Hannan Meats is a leading supplier to leading chefs, restaurants and high-profile retailers such as Fortnum and Mason. The company also gained coveted three gold stars for two of its meats at the UK Great Taste Awards.

Peter, commenting on the awards, says: “We entered three steaks and were thrilled to gain awards for each. We’re over the moon to gain such important recognition for the taste and quality of our products from our superb farm suppliers such as Glenarm Estate in Co Antrim. This is an impressive international competition and should help significantly as we grow our business in Great Britain and other parts of Europe.”

Two other local companies gained a range of prestigious medals at the event. They were: Kettyle Irish Foods in Lisnaskea and Foyle Foods in Omagh. All the awards were for steaks from animals reared on grass in local pastures. Kettyle gained gold for its fillet. The company, headed by Maurice Kettyle, is a major supplier to restaurants and supermarkets in Britain, Europe and the Middle East. Foyle Foods won golds, silver and bronze medals for its fillets, sirloin and ribeye cuts. The company is a major supplier to top supermarkets such as Tesco and leading restaurants in Britain.

Launched in 2015, the World Steak Challenge recognises the best steaks across the planet. It shines a light of positivity on beef, showcasing the best-tasting steak and engaging retailers and consumers “to think quality and sustainability rather than quantity”. It delivers a recognised stamp of quality to support world-class steak production on a global platform.

Shortcross Irish Whiskey in Crossgar, Co Down, a Food NI member, is part of Shortcross Irish Whiskey in Crossgar, Co Down, a Food NI member, is part of the launch by Britain’s oldest wine and spirits merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd of The Collective, an annual release of spirits which brings together a group of like-minded distillers. People who share a common passion and Berry Bros. & Rudd want to celebrate their achievements by sharing their stories around the world.

The Collective #1: The Pioneers is centred around ‘Pioneers in Sustainability’ within the spirits industry and spotlights ten distillers who are dedicated to making exceptional spirits whilst caring for the future of the planet. Berry Bros. & Rudd will be releasing a series of ten bottlings to showcase the sustainable talents spirit producers from around the globe:
● Oskar Bruno – Agitator 2018 Single Malt Swedish Whisky
● John Stirling – Arbikie 2017 Single Grain Scotch Whisky
● Alex Bruce – Ardnamurchan 2017 Single Malt Scotch Whisky
● Peter Bignell – Belgrove 2016 Single Rye Tasmanian Whisky
● Matthew Farmer – Glen Wyvis 2018 Quarter Cask Finish Single Malt Scotch Whisky
● Jean & Amy Pasquet – Jean-Luc Pasquet 2017 Petit Champagne Cognac
● John Letts – Oxford Artisan 2019 Single Rye English Whisky
● Annabel Thomas – Nc’nean 2017 Single Malt Scotch Whisky
● David & Fiona Boyd- Armstrong – Shortcross 2017 Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey
● Matt Homan – Westland 2014 Madeira Finish Single Malt American Whisky

Each has been meticulously selected by Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits Reserve Whisky Manager, Jonny McMillan, in collaboration with Mr Lyan, a proven pioneer in the drinks industry and the world’s most awarded bartender, who shared the same values as Berry Bros. & Rudd: passion and knowledge for both sustainability and exceptional spirits.

Berry Bros. & Rudd Spirits Reserve manager, Jonny McMillan, commented: “There is no set path on the sustainability journey, nor one single solution. The beauty of Collective #1 : The Pioneers is that each distiller has taken a different approach to sustainability, with the strength being in the diversity and combination of practices, making a whole entity, with continuous learnings.’

‘We looked to find a broad spectrum of producers from various traditions of whisky and cognac making with each distiller taking a slightly different approach to sustainability, some focusing on soil health and regenerative farming, others on lowering energy use or green power. For each distiller there is a different solution that fits the location and character of their distillery, together they form a great overview of what’s going on with environmentally pioneering producers.”

Lizzy Rudd, Berry Bros. & Rudd Chair, added: “As a family business with a long history, the notion of sustainability is a natural part of our ethos and our long- term mindset, a key to our resilience and longevity. The purpose of business is fast becoming defined by its impact rather than the products or services it sells. Today, the most important decisions we face are about how to reduce our impact on the planet now, and in the future. This is why our goal is to be net zero carbon and plastic free by 2030.

“Our producers are the best in the world at what they do. Like us, they believe that protecting our planet is the only way to ensure the future of fine wine and spirits. We believe that, together with our producers, we can improve practices around the use of water, energy and plastic.We are not just a business, we are family, a family who are the custodians of a legacy for future generations.”

The spirits featured in The Collective #1 : The Pioneers have been sourced from across the globe, from countries including America, England, France, Ireland, Sweden, Tasmania,and the undisputed homeland of whisky, Scotland. Each whisk(e)y from The Collective #1 is priced at £125.00 and cognac at £75.00, available to purchase from 27th September 2023 from Berry Bros. & Rudd (bbr.com), Master of Malt (masterofmalt.com) and Royal Mile Whiskies (royalmilewhiskies.com).

Downpatrick based Finnebrogue has worked with Asda to secure a new listing for its gluten-free Naked Pork Sausages, as well as supplying three new lines of Asda branded bacon rashers, which will be stocked at selected stores across the UK.

The family-owned business made its name producing premium sausages before launching its progressive Naked bacon and ham, made without nitrites in 2018. It then opened the doors to a new state of the art plant-based factory in 2020, making Finnebrogue one of the UK’s leading and award-winning food producers with over 1200 employees.

Tegan Bodles, Category & Insight Manager at Finnebrogue, explained, “Finnebrogue Naked bacon and ham is free from artificial preservatives and is made without nitrites, which is the result of many years of innovation and research. Nitrites are traditionally used to cure the meat, preserve it, and keep it pink. Following this success, we are now delighted to be able to offer Asda shoppers this healthier choice of bacon, under Asda own-label. We use a blend of Mediterranean dried fruit and spice extracts instead of nitrites, to deliver the familiar look and taste of bacon and ham; making it naturally tasty without the nasties.”

Tegan continued, “Our relationship with Asda began in 2014 with the production of its Extra Special gluten-free sausages. We now produce 49 products for Asda, including Asda brand sausages, Asda brand plant-based and OMV! brands, and the three new Asda brand bacon lines, alongside our Finnebrogue Naked sausages and bacon.”

Finnebrogue’s Naked bacon, which was launched into Asda in 2019, will be supporting the retailer’s Tickled Pink campaign, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

“We are thrilled to support Asda’s Tickled Pink campaign and help to raise awareness through our Naked bacon packs,’’ said Tegan.

Asda is set to launch its biggest ever Tickled Pink campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, with over 200 exclusive pink products available to purchase and sales of the products helping to raise vital funds for charity partners Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel. The campaign will launch with support from a range of iconic brands adding pink to their packaging, including Finnebrogue’s Naked Bacon which will include a roundel sticker.

Cathy Elliot, Asda’s Buying Manager for NI Local added, “It’s fantastic to continue our relationship with Finnebrogue by introducing these additional sausage and bacon lines. We have worked closely with the team for almost ten years, launching 49 products into Asda, giving our shoppers plenty of choice when it comes to bacon, ham and sausages as well as vegan, gluten free and nitrite-free alternatives.

“We’re also delighted ahead of BCAM, that Finnebrogue, through its Naked Bacon is joining with us to support our Tickled Pink breast cancer charity campaign.”

The Tickled Pink products are available to buy instore or online at www.asda.com.

Shoppers in Texas will soon be able to enjoy a unique food from Portrush in Co Antrim that’s been billed as “a new taste of Ireland” and has also just been shortlisted for a prestigious UK Quality Food and Drink award with many much bigger companies in Great Britain.

Around 12 food stores in Dallas and other cities in the ‘Lone Star State’ are set to receive the first consignments of Irish Black Butter, a multi-award-winning sweet/savoury spread that’s made from Armagh Bramley apples and a special blend of spices, as a result of a deal between the Co Antrim business, one of Northern Ireland’s smallest artisan enterprises that’s owned and run by Alastair Bell, and Eurok Inc.

Food NI member Irish Black Butter, a UK Great Taste Award winner, has also just shipped consignments to New York and Boston in repeat business with a food distributor there. And the Portrush company is also following up approaches for the spread from a food business in Florida.

Headquartered in Dallas, Eurok, Inc is an importer focusing on “unique and distinctive food brands from the UK and from Europe”. The company says “its products are connected to the people and the land where they are made”. “They taste great, are traditional and authentic or are the results of their local trends”. Managing director Cedric Chastenat continues that he “created the company to connect specialty food US retailers and independent stores to a small number of interesting brands”.

“Foods open us up to new discoveries; like a cultural bridge. Each product here has its story; an expression of a trilogy: craft, people, and earth,” he adds. Irish Black Butter’s Alastair Bell met the Eurok boss at a ‘meet the buyer’ event in London organised by the UK Department of Business and Trade (DBT), the body charged with growing the UK’s exports. The event also led to another local company, Armagh’s Burren Balsamics, winning first-time business with Mexico’s most prestigious department store.

“The Europ chief sampled Irish Black Butter at the event in London and was interested in adding my product to his extensive portfolio of foods from the UK and Europe. He proposed distributing the sauce initially to at least six food stores in the Dallas Metroplex and a similar number in other cities around the state.

“It is an immensely exciting development for us in what is the second biggest state in the US and one which has historic links with Northern Ireland,” adds Alastair. “The business link will give us a significant foothold in Texas and especially the huge Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area. It’s the fourth biggest urban area in the US with a population of around seven million,” he adds.

The deal in Texas follows Irish Black Butter linking up with a company based in Boston and New York City to supply the sauce for hampers shipped throughout the US. He’s also confident a trip to Nashville, Tennessee will yield new business in another state with strong links to Northern Ireland. The Co Antrim enterprise, in addition, also recently won repeat business for the sauce the prestigious shop at the Houses of Parliament in London.

“Our sales outside Northern Ireland have been growing steadily since the pandemic and everything is very encouraging,” Alastair continues. “It’s exciting for an artisan venture like Irish Black Butter. But it has required a tremendous amount of hard work, diligence and patience over the years. He’s the first to admit that running an artisan business is a tough and often lonely existence. While he has an immensely supportive family around him, the Portrush entrepreneur still spends his time behind the wheel, in the air and on the phone in pursuit of sales for the product.

He’s driven the length and breadth of the island of Ireland and much of Britain in building up a customer base for an idea he came up in 2017 and was helped to become a commercial product by chef Paul Clarke, the managing director of En- Place Foods in Cookstown and CRAIC Foods in Craigavon. “I drove around 50,000 miles last year and that’s more than the circumference of the globe,” Alastair laughs. “Creating awareness of what the product is, especially in the US and other global markets, is quite a challenge for an artisan business,” he says. “But there’s no easy way to success, no magic solution in artisan food,” he continues. “There’s just no alternative to hard work on the road,” adds Alastair.

A good beef burger is one of the most popular items Northern Irish people enjoy, I wonder if it was a choice between a burger and an Ulster Fry which people would choose? This is why burgers feature so prominently in local food stores and on many restaurant menus. It’s a very convenient, tasty and nutritious meal, particularly when crafted from locally sourced meat, the world’s best.

A local company which really is a master of the burger market is ABP Linden Foods in Dungannon. Linden’s command of this delicious dish was highlighted last week when the Tyrone meat processor won the award for ‘Britain’s Best Burger at the highly influential Meat Industry Awards, a glittering event in the UK industry, the country’s leading food innovation sector and one of the top exporters.

Beef processing, of course, is our biggest food sector, one that’s worth around £1billion annually and a major export earner with sales as far as China and Japan. I also noticed a menu from a high-end restaurant in one of the French rugby centres promoting Himalayan salt-aged beef from Hannan Meats in Moira.

 I congratulate the ABP Linden team on this outstanding success. ABP Linden Foods won Britain’s Best Burger for its Marks & Spencer Collection, British Wagyu Burgers with Salt & Cracked Black Pepper. It’s further evidence of the longstanding business relationship between the Dungannon company and M&S. M&S regularly turns to Linden for ideas which will captivate shoppers across the UK. It’s an excellent example of the confidence which top supermarkets have in the ability of our companies to come up with new tastes for customers. Beef processing here is focused on innovation and is consumer-led, a successful approach which is a role model for other companies especially artisan and smaller enterprises.

Linden, furthermore, is a fine example of how a progressive company can develop relationships with suppliers, especially farmers, to help ensure their growth in both short and long-terms. It has a strong track record of working with suppliers to help in developing unique products for the most discerning markets.

 ABP Linden Foods – in collaboration with M&S – set out to push the boundary of beef that was available in retail shelves.  The aim was to develop something new and different that other retailers weren’t doing at the time. The result was Wagyu beef, an exquisitely marbled lean cut.

M&S makes a hugely important contribution to the local food and drink industry…and has done over many years. I am delighted to say that the farms that supply Wagyu to ABP Linden are all situated in Northern Ireland where fertile grass pastures enable the cattle to be reared in a natural, stress-free environment. A strict rearing protocol on the farms means the beef is produced in a sustainable way. A carbon reduction programme is
in place with regenerative practices to take care of the land. Whilst efficiency measures minimise waste. Important considerations in line with the sharpening focus on environmental sustainability.

The strength of our beef industry was also evidenced by the shortlisting of Dunbia in Dungannon and Downpatrick’s Finnebrogue Artisan in the Meat Industry Management Awards for innovative products for supermarket chains such as the Co- op and Iceland.

An interesting initiative launched last week is the Nature Friendly Farming networks report, Striking the Balance. I was lucky enough to be at the launch of this initiative which has come up with a new metric for measurement of success on farm, namely Maximum Sustainable Output. Over the last five years they have measured how farm businesses can improve their commercial performance, if output levels are sustained through naturally available resources. The report looks at several case studies, a large lowland beef farm, a small lowland sheep farm, a medium sized mixed farm and a medium sized dairy farm and highlights that there is a point where commercial returns are maximised using natural processes.

The report challenges the assumption that an increase in output will result in a proportional rise in commercial returns and argues that production that effectively harnesses natural resources will be more efficient and profitable than that which depends on corrective inputs to substitute for an asset base that is degraded or inadequate. To find out more search Striking the Balance at www.nffn.org.uk.

Irwin’s Bakery in Co Armagh has won with Waitrose to secure a new listing for its Together-branded cranberry & orange super seeded loaf. The bread is now being stocked in 300 Waitrose stores and strengthens the Portadown-based bakery’s existing relationship with the retailer, which currently lists six Irwin’s lines, including two other fruited breads.

Food NI member Irwin’s launched the Irwin’s Together range in 2021, following over £500,000 investment in R&D. And since then, Irwin’s has increased its share of the speciality bread market with a five per cent growth in the fruited category.

“This latest business win demonstrates our continued success in creating demand for speciality breads among GB consumers,” said Chloe Ormiston, category & shopper insights manager at Irwin’s Bakery. “In a challenging market with changing shopping behaviours, Irwin’s is passionate about giving added product benefits to consumers. “Increasingly we’ve seen a rebalancing of what consumers deem as important, with value, health, practicality, and enjoyment all in play.

“We’ve also seen a decline in traditional breakfast choices, with a switch to morning goods options driven by health and convenient indulgence. “This research by Kantar has driven our desire to bring excitement to the fruited and morning goods categories, delivering great-tasting products that consumers are asking for. “The development of this new style of fruit loaf, with added seeds and grains, opens up the business to a new market, giving us the opportunity to engage with a younger audience who wouldn’t normally consider a traditional fruit loaf.”