Latest news

Visitors to the Boston Seafood Exhibition, from 9-14 March, will see a broad range of quality fish and seafood products from Northern Ireland (Stand 2542).

On show on the Northern Ireland stand will be fish, smoked and fresh salmon, crab meat and deli crab claws, oysters, mussels, shelled and half-shell queenie scallops, and fresh and cooked langoustines.

Elmore Seafoods, the Northern Irish specialist in fresh fish, is adding value to its business by diversifying into convenience meals with the launch of an innovative Restaurant Range that can be oven-cooked in just 15 minutes to provide a delicious meal.

Dale Farm, the leading Northern Irish dairy processing business, has won a contract in Russia worth around one million euro. The company is to supply its mild white cheese to a customer in St Petersburg in a major deal signed during the recent Gulfood Exhibition in Dubai.

New Olive Company, the Northern Irish specialist in olives, tomatoes, peppers and homemade pesto and culinary pastes under the successful Love Olive brand, will launch a new range of delicious products when it debuts at IFE in London (Stand S4602).

New gluten-free sauces, curries, an easy serve porridge and a natural coconut drink which blends aromatic spices and botanical herbs are among innovative food and drink from Northern Ireland companies exhibiting at IFE 2013 on Stand N1606 and N1620 from
17- 21 March 2013. The products will be on show on the Northern Ireland Naturally presentation at IFE, now seen as an important platform for launching new ideas in food and drink.

London celebrity chef Marcus Wareing is now using hand churned butter from Northern Irish Abernethy Butter Company in The Berkeley, his multi-award winning restaurant.

Wareing, renowned as an enthusiastic supporter of local suppliers, has listed the unique butter after sampling the product, hand churned and hand rolled by husband and wife team Will and Allison Abernethy at Dromara in county Down. The weekly order placed for The Berkeley follows Abernethy Butter’s listing by high-end store Fortnum and Mason in London.

Suki Tea, the Northern Irish boutique blender, is planning to grow its own tea in Northern Ireland. The gourmet tea company, based in Belfast and with sales throughout the UK, Ireland, and other parts of Europe as well as to Japan and Africa, has placed an initial order for 2,000 tea plants with a leading grower in Tanzania and plans to grow them on land at Portaferry in County Down.

Health drink Aloe Burst, developed in Northern Ireland by the Natural Import Company, has won its first business in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

Launched in 2011, the soft drink, which is made from pureed aloe and spring water, has begun supplying the drink to Big Food EU in London, a leading European speciality wholesaler, and to DDC Foods, also based in London.

Two Northern Irish artisan producers secured a series of awards at the recent National Ice Cream Awards held at Harrogate in Yorkshire.

The award winners from Northern Ireland were Maud’s, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, and Morelli’s, Coleraine, county Londonderry. They were among ice cream and sorbet producers from the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland taking part in the annual awards, the industry’s most prestigious event, part of the Ice Cream Expo.

Mash Direct, the Northern Irish specialist in quick-serve potato and vegetable meals, has won its first business in the United Arab Emirates. Mash Direct has announced new business with Spinneys, the Middle East’s premium supermarket chain, secured recently following participation with at the SIAL food exhibition in Paris.