Top food award for Northern Irish artisan cheese maker

Mike's Fancy Cheese, an artisan cheese maker, has won the top dairy award in a competition to find Northern Ireland's leading food producers.

The one-man business pipped other bigger dairy processors to clinch the award. The Northern Ireland event follows similar competitions in England, Scotland and Wales also organised by Oceanic Creative.

And there were awards too for Irwin's Bakery of Portadown, county Armagh, Northern Ireland's biggest independent bakery in the category for Ambient Foods, Armstrong Meats, the Belfast wholesalers, was the winner in the Best Meat Supplier category, and Mash Direct, a major processor of convenience meals in Best Chilled Foods Manufacturer.

Mike's Fancy Cheese hand crafts a raw milk blue cheese, Young Buck, and is the brainchild of cheese enthusiast Michael Thomson. He is a sole trader. The cheese has become popular with top restaurants in Northern Ireland and is now on sale in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and France.

Armstrong Meats is a family run business supplying local produce to customers all over Ireland from a purpose built factory which conforms to full EEC standards. It also has two butchery shops in Belfast.

The award winners were:
Best Chilled Manufacturer - Mash Direct, Comber, Co Down - a manufacturer of potato and vegetable convenience meals;
Best Bakery - Belfast Baking Company, Belfast - baked goods;
Best Frozen Food Provider - Pizzado, Portaferry, Co Down - pizza kits;
Best Meat Supplier - Armstrong Meats, Belfast - wholesale suppliers of beef, pork, lamb, poultry and game to the retail and catering trade;
Best Seafood Supplier - Ewing's Seafoods, Belfast - fish and seafood;
Best Ambient Products manufacturer - Irwin's Bakery, Portadown, County Armagh;
Best Dairy Food Provider - Mike's Fancy Cheese, Newtownards, County Down - Young Buck artisan cheese.

The awards, introduced this year, recognise the hard work and efforts of the Northern Ireland food industry. The awards, a new competition in the local food scene, spotlighted local producers who supply their delicious ingredients. Categories included restaurants, takeaways, gastro pubs, hotel restaurants, cafes and bistros of the year. As well as the awards, the event also helped to raise funds for the official charity partner, Make A Wish Foundation UK granting magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions.

Irfan Younis of Glasgow-based event organisers Creative Oceanic said "The tremendous amount of nominations received from the Northern Ireland public, is a testament to the hard work of all those working within the food sector.

"With fierce competition this year, we were looking forward to welcoming those who provide and supply us with gastronomic delights. Winners from the other cities were great ambassadors and I am confident Northern Ireland's finalists and winners will follow in their footsteps."

Creative Oceanic is an integrated events and communications agency.