Selfridges lists McCartney's award winning corned beef


Award winning corned beef from McCartney's in Northern Ireland has been launched in Britain by Selfridges in central London.



The unique corned beef from the Northern Ireland butchery business, voted Supreme Champion in the recent final of the UK Guild of Fine Food's Great Taste Awards, is now on sale in the store's renowned Food Hall in Oxford Street.



Selfridges is the first major food retailer to list the corned beef, a traditional product that's made from very lean Silverside joints and hand pressed on a traditional meat press. The beef is also dry-cured for 12 days to ensure a rich and mature flavour.



George McCartney, who runs the butchery business with other family members, launched the corned beef on 19thSeptember as part of a week-long promotion.



Commenting on the business with Selfridges, Mr McCartney said: "It's tremendous to have secured a stockist in London with such an impressive reputation for fine food. We look forward to working alongside the staff in the Food Hall to grow sales of what is essentially an old fashioned product that combines quality, flavour and provenance.



"Being voted Supreme Champion in the Great Taste Awards has produced a flood of inquiries for the corned beef, sales of which rocketed by 800 per cent during the week following the award. And business continues to strengthen. Other up-market retailers and many delis in Britain also want the product and as quickly as possible.



"We have had inquires from all over the UK with people keen to experience our fabulous corned beef. We've also requests from Canada, the US and France! The interest is incredible. On one day alone, we had a staggering 10,000 website hits. The challenge facing us is to meet the demand quickly for the corned beef.



McCartney's corned beef came top out of almost 7,500 food and drink products in the UK Great Taste Awards. The business was also the first to bring the coveted Supreme Champion Award to Northern Ireland. Over 350 experts including key buyers, retailers, chefs and food writers blind tasted entries to ensure they are fairly and independently assessed.



The Supreme Champion judging panel, which included Carluccio and Masterchef winner Dhruv Baker, were said to have been "blown away" by the winning product. Five of the six judges rated the corned beef 100 out of 100 marks.



McCartney's is a sixth generation butchery business which has a longstanding reputation in the production of award winning sausages. All ingredients for the company's beef, lamb, pork and poultry are sourced from neighbouring farms in Northern Ireland.