JUDGES VERDICT - FIVEMILETOWN CREAMERY PRODUCES BEST NORTHERN IRELAND PRODUCT

Northern Ireland based Fivemiletown Creamery won nine awards for its products at the recent International Cheese Awards held at Nantwich in England. The county Tyrone based farmer owned co-operative has now collected 18 awards so far this year making it Northern Ireland's top award winning firm. The International Cheese Awards are the Oscars of the cheese world. With a Gold award being best in the entire show the company's products are truly amongst some of the best food products. Fivemiletown struck Gold for its Boilie Goats Cheese and Smoked Ballyblue Wedge and Silver for its Mini Oakwood Cheddar amongst others. Cheesemakers from all over the globe showed their produce at the International Cheese Awards. The event, formerly known as the Nantwich Cheese Show, has been hosted by the town for 112 years and has been renamed the International Cheese Show to reflect the global nature of the cheese market. Competitors from 24 different countries exhibited at the show in Dorfold Hall Park, Nantwich. Fivemiletown has experienced substantial sales growth over the past two years. Not so long ago the company's cheese was only found on local shelves however today it seen in places as far apart as New York to Hong Kong. Almost daily the company receives emails from excited ex-pats saying how they have found Fivemiletown cheese in their local store be it in New York City, Texas, Paris or Copenhagen. With brands such as Ballyblue, its blue veined soft cow's milk brie, Ballyoak which is smoked on site using local oakwood to Cooneen and Boilie goats cheese, increasingly more consumers are discovering the range and loving it. Seen as the Olympics of the food industry, The Great Taste Awards this year saw Fivemiletown pick up three Gold awards for its Boilie and O'Reillys range. The Great Taste Awards from the Guild of Fine Food are the acknowledged benchmark for speciality food and drink and is recognised as the definitive independent accreditation of quality. The Great Taste awards judging standards have long been the most rigorous in the UK. For 2009, they became even more so. Every entry was blind tasted by two teams of experts working separately but simultaneously and comprising leading chefs, food writers and buyers. Fivemiletown collected a further three prizes at the British Cheese Awards including a silver for O'Reilly's with Mustard and bronze for O'Reilly's with Chives and Ballyoak in the Flavour Added category. In addition, the company is proud that its Mature Cheddar has yet again been selected as one of the best produced in the British Isles, receiving a bronze in the block cheddar category. The company supplies its cheddar under the Taste The Difference label for Sainsburys, one of the highest regarded brands in the UK. It also supplies its competitors with mature cheese, further testament to its quality. With winning the Sainsburys New Supplier of the Year Award 2009 and Apprentice of the Year Award for engineering apprentice Patrick Gillian, the progressive company has been busy over the past few months. Mervyn McCaughey, managing director says: ???So far 2009 has been an excellent year for us. We have a superb workforce who produce fantastic cheese using milk from our own herds. Our farmers work hard to give us the quality of milk we need to manufacture quality cheese. ???We have a good relationship with all our customers and value the help and assistance they give us in growing our brands. We have moved into the GB food service and deli market in the past 12 months and already service several hundred customers either directly or through specially appointed wholesalers. This has meant not only an increase in production but also new jobs. We are still in recruitment mode for a few more positions.??? With the assistance of Invest Northern Ireland the company is exhibiting at several shows in the coming months including the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham and Spirit of Christmas in London. Earlier this month the company was on show at the Speciality Food Fair in London. This has proved another winner for the company and has already resulted in orders. These events help showcase one of Northern Ireland's best local brands to a wider audience. The company has become well known for promoting its brands and marketing is key to the future of the business. By adding value to their milk supply the company has been able to pay their farmer base the best price in Northern Ireland for the past four months. The company is looking forward to another 12 months of growth and some exciting plans are in place to ensure continued growth.