UK MINISTER FOR EXPORTS Lord Offord visited Titanic Distillers at Thompson Dock today to officially open Belfast’s first working whiskey distillery in almost 90 years.

The Minister, who took up his position at the Department of Business and Trade in April this year, performed the opening ceremony at the new distillery, where whiskey production is now under way for the first time in Belfast since the days of prohibition in the 1930s.

Lord Offord unveiled a commemorative plaque at the distillery which is based on the site of the historic Thompson Dock and Pumphouse, the birthplace of the Titanic.

As well as meeting with Titanic Distillers directors, the Lord enjoyed a brief tour of the £8M distillery and visitor centre, including a whiskey tasting with Head Distiller Damien Rafferty.

He also took time to chat with attending members of the Dockers Club in Pilot Street and Welders Club in Dee Street, in keeping with the company’s ‘Blood, Sweat And Years’ theme which celebrates Belfast’s industrial and maritime past, and is inspired by the people who worked in the city’s shipyard more than a century ago.

The retired workers, from both sides of the community, shared their stories with the Minister, who said he was honoured to be invited to perform the official opening.

“It is an honour to officially open Titanic Distillers at the iconic Thompson Dock today in Belfast,” said Minister for Exports Lord Offord.

“The distilling industry has been part of Northern Ireland’s fabric for generations, and it’s been a pleasure to meet with the team and members of the community to see their skills first-hand.”

The visitor centre at Titanic Distillers opened its doors to tourists in April this year.  Last month (August), the company received its Distillers License to start producing spirits and the stills have been fired up and pouring ever since. 

Titanic Distillers director Peter Lavery reflected on the company’s journey to date.

“We are delighted to welcome Lord Offord here today to perform the Official Opening of Titanic Distillers at Thompson Dock,” said Peter.

“Today is the culmination of many years’ hard graft to bring this amazing project to life – and while it marks the end of the first ‘construction’ phase, it also signals the start of another phase as we start producing a whiskey and a brand that the people of Belfast and Northern Ireland can be proud of, and that will represent us well all over the world.”

Fellow director Stephen Symington added: “We believe the famous Titanic name resonates around the world and we have very ambitious plans to take the product to a global audience – with coast to coast distribution in the US identified as a major commercial objective for the brand.

“With this in mind, it is very fitting that Lord Offord, in his role as UK Minister for Export, be here today to officially open our new distillery. Outside of our location’s massive tourism appeal and historic significance, we’re very aware that we are now a working distillery and we are all focussed on producing our own products to build on our success to date and make the most of the growing global demand for Irish Whiskey.”

The new distillery will produce single malt premium whiskey made from ingredients that have been carefully selected to produce the best possible flavour.

A unique house blend of malted barley and yeast is used to produce the ‘wash’ which is then distilled in the three Forsyth’s stills, situated on a mezzanine floor overlooking the Pumphouse’s original Gwynne pumping engines which are deep in the building’s pump-well.

The Thompson Dry Dock first opened in 1911 to service and accommodate the massive White Star transatlantic liners Olympic and Titanic.

All of the original pump equipment and associated internal historic features in the adjacent Pumphouse have been retained and are available to view as part of the associated visitor tours, while the exterior includes a new food and beverage area.

Titanic Distillers at Thompson Dock is within walking distance of Titanic Belfast, the world’s biggest Titanic exhibition centre and Northern Ireland’s number one tourist attraction, having welcomed more than 7.5 million visitors since opening its doors in 2012. 

Also resident in the Titanic Quarter is the SS Nomadic tender ship which ferried passengers to the great liner, and HMS Caroline, a decommissioned C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw combat service in the First World War and served as an administrative centre in the Second World War. 

For more information, visit www.titanicdistillers.com.

ABP Linden Foods in Dungannon has won Britain’s Best Burger for its Marks & Spencer Collection, British Wagyu Burgers with Salt & Cracked Black Pepper at the 2023 Meat Management Awards in Bimingham.

The burgers are made by ABP Linden’s master butchers using hand selected Wagyu beef. The patties are smashed to deliver a caramelised flavour and texture when cooked. They are sold in M&S stores and the Ocado online platform. The award was presented in the Hilton Birmingham Metropole recently (12th September) at a black-tie ceremony and dinner to highlight the creativity, innovation and excellence of the UK’s meat industry.

ABP Linden Foods in Dungannon is one of Northern Ireland’s leading processors of meats, especially beef.  The business is part of ABP Food Group. It has a strong track record of working with producers to develop products derived from specific breeds the most recent of which is Wagyu Beef, as well as organic & salt dry aged beef.

 “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 & different that other retailers weren’t doing at the time. The result is our Wagyu beef, an exquisitely marbled lean cut with the characteristic fine white layers of fat that run through to intensify flavour,” explained Diane Christie, Head of Innovation at ABP Linden Foods.

The farms that supply Waygu 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.

Recently ABP Linden’s Wagyu supply chain won the Sustainable Agri Food Supply Chain Excellence Award and the business also picked up awards for its Wagyu steaks at 2022 World Steak Challenge. 

With so many worthy finalists, we are delighted to be recognised once again for a product from a unique supply chain.  We’re so proud of the team who go above and beyond every day to ensure we’re producing the very best products we can.  To have been given this prestigious award is testament to the hard work and dedication of our producers, colleagues and partnership with M&S.”

Congratulations Mauds Ice Cream in Carrickfergus on winning a well-deserved Regional Fork for Northern Ireland in this year’s highly competitive UK Great Taste Awards for its delicious Pistachio Ice Cream flavour. The prestigious award was presented at a gala showcase in London on Monday night attended by many of the UK artisan food industry’s leaders.

It really is one of the highlights of the year to see our artisan and smaller food and drink companies being recognised in such an important international challenge. It’s an event which, justifiably, attracts high-level publicity from the influential Guild of Fine Foods, the organisers, in a host of glossy publications.

Great Taste is the largest and most trusted accreditation for food and drink producers in the world and now attracts entries from across the globe. It supports, promotes and mentors the people crafting fantastic food and drinks in businesses large and small – much like Food NI’s role in Northern Ireland.

The Guild has been immensely supportive of our food and drink over very many years. In Food NI, we appreciate greatly the Guild’s ongoing support and are very keen to continue to develop our relationships with this highly influential organisation.

It is an objective of Food NI to support our companies by raising the level of awareness in Britain, our most important marketplace, by coverage for our members and their products in key magazines there. It’s vitally important that retailers, including delis and farm shops, in Britain are aware of our produce and consumers have as many opportunities as possible to sample and purchase these.

It was good, then, to hear that one of our members, Whoosh in Coleraine, is now selling its tasty noodles to Selfridges and that another member, Ke Nako Biltong in Ballyclare, won the Best from Northern Ireland in this week’s World Charcuterie Awards.

Great Taste’s mission is “to discover the best food and drink, not just in the UK but across the entire globe”. It’s essential that our food and drink are an integral part of this important process. Upwards of 500 judges were involved in assessing 14,195 food and drink entries. Some six local products reached the final stages, including entries from our members Hannan Meats, Morelli Ice Cream, Baronscourt Estate, Whitewater Brewery, Hinch and Ballyboley Dexters.

It was also tremendously encouraging to see Tandragee’s Jackson Roze non- alcoholic ginger wine, another Food NI member, listed among the top four contenders for New Product of the Year at the Speciality and Fine Food Fair in London.

Our members were also in great form at this year’s Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards in Dublin. Milgro Onions crispy onions original flavour took the gold slot; Morelli’s Ice Cream won two gold awards for their Simply Better Dunnes Stores’ Irish made butterscotch ice cream and Irish made caramelized hazelnut ice cream. Their Dunnes Stores Simply Better Irish made mixed berry ice cream took a bronze prize.

In ready meals, Karri Kitchen mango chicken curry was awarded gold. Karro Foods’ deluxe pork fillet medallions with a creamy apple cider sauce for Lidl won a bronze award. Carol’s Stock Market’s free range chicken broth and slow cooked beef bone broth – both for Dunnes Simply Better range – won silver awards. Jackson Roze extra strength non-alcoholic ginger wine won a silver as did Moocha Kombucha for organic elderflower and lemon kombucha. White’s Speedicook Oats organic oats for Aldi won a bronze prize as did Clandeboye Yoghurt’s Madagascan vanilla for Aldi. In Drinks, McCracken’s Premium Pilsner won bronze.

We congratulate all our winning members and everyone who entered and who keeps the quality of our food and drink to such a high standard.

Pistachio Ice Cream from Mauds Ice Creams is awarded top accolade for taste in Northern Ireland for 2023, at glittering Golden Forks ceremony.

Announced on Monday 11 September at a ceremony held at Battersea Arts Centre attended by food industry experts, the Great Taste Golden Fork trophy for Northern Ireland has been awarded to longstanding Food NI member, Mauds Ice Creams from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, for its Pistachio Ice Cream.  

Described as “smooth and creamy with an instant hit of freshly roasted nut”, the Pistachio Ice Cream is made by the Mauds production team at their bespoke dairy in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, using the best ingredients and is a firm favourite amongst the team. It impressed the Great Taste judges with its “thick, unctuous texture and waves of delicious flavour” at every stage of the blind-tasted judging process across 89 days in Dorset and London. An incredible 14,195 product entries from 3,609 artisan food and drink companies across the world were tasted and considered for the black and gold badge of honour.  

Rising to the top of hundreds of other entries from Northern Ireland, this “simply delicious” pistachio ice cream was celebrated as the best tasting product in its country at the highly anticipated awards ceremony which marks the culmination of Great Taste 2023, dubbed the ‘Oscars’ of the food & drink world. Not only that but it also made its way into the top sixteen highest-scoring product list in the whole competition and in the running for the 2023 Great Taste Supreme Champion.

 
For more information on Mauds Ice Creams, see here: https://www.mauds.com/

 
The Great Taste Golden Fork from Northern Ireland was sponsored by Invest NI. Also nominated this year were the Great Taste 3-star Morelli’s Pistachio Swirl Ice Cream from Morelli Ice Cream based in Derry and Buttermilk Pork Chop from Hannan Meats based in Armagh. 

Congratulations from all at Food NI.

Lidl Northern Ireland procured a record £455 million worth of goods from the local agri-food industry last year (FY22/23 ending February) according to its annual Supplier Impact Report. This is an increase of more than 30% from £347 million in FY21/22.

Furthermore, the report also found that of the £455 million, £390 million worth of goods were exported globally through Lidl’s expansive international store network, showcasing the best of Northern Ireland produce across thousands of Lidl stores in Great Britain and Ireland and as far as Romania, Greece and Cyprus.

This year’s report once again highlights the retailer’s significant economic contribution to the agri-food industry and underscores its longstanding commitment to sourcing produce locally. The investment figures were revealed as Lidl Northern Ireland tees up to celebrate 25 years in the region next year, marking the opening of its first store in Cookstown in 1999.

From Willowbrook’s fresh salads and Hellbent’s distinctive spicy sausages, both proudly made in Newtownards, to tasty baked treats from Holmes Bakery in Portadown and mouth-watering ice cream from Dale Farm in Belfast, Cookstown and Kilrea, Lidl shoppers across the globe are being offered an increasingly expansive line of authentic local produce from Northern Ireland.

Alongside its established supplier network, Lidl Northern Ireland is also already committed to backing home-grown businesses to realise their potential through its industry-leading Kickstart Supplier Development Programme. The programme supports SMEs with training and mentoring in areas such as quality control, packaging, marketing, public relations and other important aspects of business development, as well as selling those businesses’ products on the shelves of Lidl’s stores across the island.

Now in its sixth year, the retailer has invested more than €8 million in growing more than 400 small and medium sized suppliers across the island of Ireland through the Kickstart initiative.

Ivan Ryan, Regional Managing Director, Lidl Northern Ireland said:

“As the region’s fastest-growing supermarket retailer, I’m very proud of the positive contribution Lidl Northern Ireland continues to make to the local food and drink industry, thanks to our longstanding supplier partnerships and initiatives like our Kickstart Supplier Development Programme.

“Our Supplier Impact Report demonstrates just how significant those schemes are in supporting an entire network of local producers to grow, develop, and enjoy success – not just locally in Northern Ireland but also across Europe and beyond through our global Lidl store network.

“As we look ahead to our ‘silver’ anniversary next year – marking 25 years of Lidl Northern Ireland – we look forward to investing further in our local supplier network and to bringing even more great quality, locally sourced produce at great value to the customers in our ever-growing network of stores across the region.”

J.P. Scally, Chief Executive Officer of Lidl Ireland and Lidl Northern Ireland, said:

“Growing our local supplier network has always been a priority for us and over the last two decades we have worked hard to establish and develop a robust and agile local supply chain.

“We remain committed to supporting local food and drink producers and look forward to building on this in the years ahead, as we work to deliver on our ambitious growth plans, expand our store network and employee base in Northern Ireland, and open up export opportunities for the region for wider industry growth.”

The Supplier Impact Report launch coincides with the publication of Lidl Northern Ireland’s financial results for the 2022/23 period which recorded turnover of £434 million.

Lidl Northern Ireland has powered through almost a quarter of a century with its high-quality, low-price proposition, and has firmly embedded itself as a local brand committed to supplying fresh, home-grown produce at exceptional quality and value.

For more information, please visit lidl-ni.co.uk

For more information on the Kickstart Supplier Development Programme, visit lidl-ni.co.uk/kickstart

Food NI member food producer Milgro was successful at this year’s Irish Quality Food Awards, with two of their crispy onion products taking both a gold and silver gong in the Meal Accompaniments category.

Their Original Flavour ONiT ONiONS! won a gold award and their Flame Grilled ONiT ONiONS! came home with silver.

The family-run business launched their crispy onions under the ONiT ONiONS! brand in the Republic of Ireland at the end of 2022 at selected Tesco Ireland locations. Throughout 2023, the availability of ONiT ONiONS! has rapidly increased across the ROI, with the products now available in even more Tesco Ireland locations and independent butchers, with more well known retailers to be announced in the coming weeks.

Milgro have been the largest grower, packer and processor of onions in Northern Ireland since it was established over 30 years ago on the outskirts of Limavady. They brought the ONiT ONiONS! brand to market to cater for consumers who wanted to add an instant burst of flavour and crunch to their meals and snacks.

Sold in fully recyclable and resealable packaging, the crispy onions have exceeded sales projections and have become a firm favourite with some high-profile foodie influencers across the country.

Speaking about the win, Gerald Miller, managing director at Milgro Onions said: “It’s a real honour that both of our ONiT ONiONS! products received awards at this year’s IQFAs. We have been available for less than one year in the Republic of Ireland so it’s very exciting that the quality and taste of our crispy onions has already been recognised at these prestigious awards.”

Ian Miller, Milgro commercial director added: “The feedback from retailers and consumers alike has been hugely positive since our launch, and to now receive awards from the IQFA is a real testament not only to our products, but to the team here at Milgro who work hard to grow, harvest, process and fry our crispy onions year round.”

ONiT ONiONS! can be used in a variety of ways, including to serve on top of steaks, burgers, hotdogs, chicken, soups, sandwiches, stews and curries, and can also be enjoyed as a standalone snack.