Quality from Northern Ireland at BBC Good Food Show

PRESS RELEASE

November 2009

QUALITY FROM NORTHERN IRELAND AT BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW

Award winning products from Northern Ireland will be showcased on Stand M130 at the BBC Good Food Show, 25-29 November, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

Featuring in the ‘Northern Ireland Naturally’ presentation hosted by Invest Northern Ireland will be a broad range of local products including health foods, gourmet beef and poultry and cheeses.
Among the six companies on the first-ever Invest NI stand at BBC Good Food are three specialising in healthy and organic products – Kestrel Foods of Craigavon which supplies snacks such as dried fruits, nuts and seeds from organic and Fair Trade sources; Linwood Foods of Armagh, a leading processor of Omega 3-rich flaxseed and shelled hemp; and White’s of Tandragee, a manufacturer of organic porridge oats.

White’s and Fivemiletown Creamery secured Great Taste Awards this year from the UK Guild of Fine Food for quality and innovative products and Fivemiletown also picked up nine awards for its products at the recent International Cheese Awards held at Nantwich in England. 

All the companies on the Invest NI stand have significant business outside the UK and Ireland. Doherty and Gray, for example, the Ballymena based beef, lamb and pork producer, supplies gourmet pork sausages to the Carrefour supermarkets in Spain. It also has business in other European markets from both retail and foodservice customers. Western Brand in Lisnaskea is a leading supplier of fresh and processed chicken to customers in Great Britain and Ireland. Fivemiletown’s customers include Wal-Mart in the US and Galeries Layfayette in France, which lists brie from the County Tyrone based company.

Maynard Mawhinney, Invest NI’s Food Director, commenting on the Northern Ireland showcase at BBC Good Food, said: “Food and drink in Northern Ireland is now a £3 billion industry which has become the region’s biggest manufacturing sector.

“Almost 17 per cent of its products are sold outside Northern Ireland, with Great Britain now accounting for 40 per cent of total sales. It is also a major contributor to the Northern Ireland economy both in terms of added value products, employment and research and development. As a result of this investment in R&D and exports, food and drink is now one of Northern Ireland’s most quality focused and innovation-led industries.

“Increasingly our food and drink companies are succeeding in global markets from the US to Asia and the Middle East. This global focus is represented on the Invest NI BBC Good Food presentation in the shape of companies supplying products such as cheese, oats and healthy snacks to the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Spain, Denmark, France and the Netherlands.  Today, food and drink from Northern Ireland has become a global business with a fine reputation for quality and innovation,” he added.

This year’s BBC Good Food Show, 25–29 Nov, will feature the busiest ever schedule to entice food lovers with a mix of celebrity chefs, live demos, opportunities to have-a-go, festive drinks, seasonal foods and a huge selection of award-winning UK producers. New features include an interactive ‘MasterChef Experience’, alongside visitor favourites including Henrietta Green’s FoodLoversBritain.com Fair. Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, James Martin and The Hairy Bikers, recent visitors to Northern Ireland, will be cooking live in the Supertheatre sponsored by Sainsbury’s. 

Northern Ireland companies at BBC Good Food Show at the NEC Birmingham

Doherty and Gray, Ballymena
Beef and lamb processing since 1954. Products include prime cuts and gourmet pork and beef sausages under the Saints and Scholars and Hulls brands. The company supplies most of the leading UK and Irish supermarkets as well as Carrefour in Spain.

Fivemiletown Creamery, Fivemiletown
Award winning processor of cheddar and specialist soft cheeses since 1898, the company, a winner in the recent World Cheese Awards and the British Cheese Awards, has developed a range of brands including smoked Ballyoak, Ballybrie and goats cheese under the Cooneen, Boilie and O’Reilly brands. Customers include major supermarkets in the UK, Ireland, the US, France and Hong Kong.

Kestrel Foods, Craigavon
Kestrel Foods produced a range of healthy snacks from dried fruit, nuts and seeds under the Forest Feast brand. Customers include all the leading UK supermarkets, health shops and leading grocery retailers in the Netherlands, other parts of Europe and Carrefour in Singapore. The range includes products sourced from organic and free trade suppliers.

Linwoods Foods, Armagh
Linwoods is a major supplier of health foods including cold milled organic flaxseed and shelled hemp to UK and Irish supermarkets and health food stores. It also has customers in other parts of Europe including Spain.

Western Brand Poultry, Lisnaskea
Western Brand is a leading processor of poultry and egg products for retail and foodservice customers in the UK and Ireland.

Whites, Tandragree
White's has been milling oats in Tandragee since 1841..The company has gained Great Taste Awards for its range of products which included porridge oats, toasted oats snacks, jumbo pinhead oats and real porridge oats.

Notes to the Editor
- Invest NI’s Food Division has overall responsibility for developing over 350 food processing client companies and also developing the relationships with third party food related organisations and government agencies including Bord Bia.
- Invest Northern Ireland marketing advisors in GB are Robin Barnett
T: 078 1717 3513 & Michelle Charrington T: 078 1717 3514,
Shane McArdle in the Republic of Ireland, Mob: 07817 173516 and Karl Devlin in Scotland, Mob: 07767 393316.