Asda business boost for Northern Ireland's Gilfresh

Gilfresh Produce, the leading Northern Irish supplier of vegetables, has won business from Asda for 300,000 bunches of spring onions for stores in the region.

Gilfresh, a family run company, which was established by the Gilpin family over 50 years ago, is dedicated to the growing, packing and processing of prepared vegetables, and already supplies a range of vegetables to Asda including carrots, cabbages, swede and broccoli.

Gilfresh's Danielle Mitchell, commenting on the Asda deal, says: "We enjoy a great relationship with Asda, supplying them with a range of fresh produce including our new season scallions.

"Our grower has been in the field checking the crop for the last few weeks, waiting for the optimum time to harvest - and the results have been fantastic."

Billy Clelland, quality manager of Asda NI, adds: "At Asda we're proud to work with some of the best growers and suppliers from across the agri-food industry, filling our shelves over the summer, and indeed all year round, with the finest in locally sourced produce - something we know is very important to our shoppers.

"By partnering with Gilfresh and its growers, we are able to bring these great tasting, quality scallions to our customers for them to enjoy in season - fresh from the field to our stores."

Gilfresh, based at Loughgall in county Armagh, employs around 130 people and now grows and manages the growing of over 2,500 acres of field vegetables and salad crops ranging from traditional root vegetables, salad crops and brassica vegetables.

The company's pack house conforms to the highest standards within the industry including having BRC Global Food Standard Accreditation. This standard extends to the new vegetable preparation facility, operational from July 2013, which supplies a growing range of prepared vegetables.

Pic: Armagh farmer Paddy Finn is supplying scallions to Gilfresh for Asda.