Champion Beef from Northern Ireland for Fortnum and Mason

Fortnum and Mason shoppers will be able to enjoy Champion Beef from Northern Ireland's Hannan Meats over the Christmas and New Year periods.

Hannan, based in Moira, county Down, purchased the Glenarm Shorthorn Champion at last month's Allam's Christmas Show and Sale in Belfast with the intention of preparing the beef in its unique Himalayan Salt Chamber, the biggest of its type in the world, for the high-end retailer in London, who is the exclusive retail stockist of the beef in the UK.

The champion is a 580kg heifer reared by a Toomebridge-based farmer in county Antrim who is a supplier to the Glenarm Shorthorn beef producer group, also based in county Antrim which has an exclusive agreement to supply premium cattle to Hannan Meats.

Allam's is the most important Christmas fatstock show in Ireland and widely regarded as the equal to any of the winter shows in Great Britain. The show, a highlight of the agri-food calendar, attracted entries from most parts of Ireland.

Peter Hannan, managing director of Hannan Meats, says: "Fortnum and Mason is a very valued customer and is now showcasing our Himalayan Salt Aged Glenarm Shorthorn Beef in all its retail and foodservice operations".

"We want to show how much we value this tremendous endorsement of our beef by such a prestigious retailer, by providing a Christmas 'special' to the store and its discerning customers in the shape of beef from a champion animal processed in our salt chamber," he adds.

Hannan Meats is Northern Ireland's most successful and respected supplier of premium salt aged beef. The catering butcher, which has been in business for more than two decades, is the most acclaimed business in the UK and Ireland in the prestigious Great Taste Awards.

It won the Supreme Champion award in 2011/12 and has had five beef and bacon products listed in the Top 50 Foods by the Guild of Fine Food over each of the past two years. In addition to Fortnum and Mason, Hannan Meats supplies beef to celebrated chef Mark Hix for his chain of high-end restaurants in London.