pork
Glenvale Pork is billed as a superior quality range of pork, which is provided in a wide selection of cuts and trimmings for retail, catering and manufacturing butchers. It is exclusively available from Dalziel’s meat depots throughout the UK. Dalziel meat sales director David Whyatt said: “We’re very proud to team up with Westvlees to introduce our own pork brand, which is an excellent quality product. We have worked with Westvlees for many years and believe this new brand will strengthen our share of the pork market in the UK. This is an exciting time for Dalziel’s meat division.” Westvlees UK sales manager Michael Catry said: “We have worked with David and his team for over 15 years, and we look forward to an even stronger partnership.” Glenvale is the second exclusive meat brand to be launched by Dalziel, following the launch of its ‘Drovers beef range’ in partnership with Dunbia three years ago.
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (RWAS) Spring Festival in Builth Wells next weekend will host a series of short seminars with the heading ‘Profiting from Pigs’.
The new website will go live in the summer and will include an introduction to Welsh pork production, a directory of pig producers and case studies.
“This new website will form part of our plans to increase awareness of pork suppliers in Wales and the quality of their products,” said Melanie Hughes, HCC’s market development officer. “It will offer producers an opportunity to build their online presence and will be a starting point for customers who are looking to source locally produced pork.
“During the Spring Festival, we will be introducing the website to the industry and recruiting interested producers for the directory.”
Other HCC activities during the weekend will include a programme of seminars, delivered in partnership with Farming Connect and the RWAS. Also held in the pig shed, these sessions will be suitable for large and small-scale producers and will cover topics including pig health, artificial insemination and adding value through direct sales.
Luned Evans, HCC’s industry development officer, said: “The seminars are free to attend and will be an interesting source of information for anyone keen to learn about rearing pigs. Speakers with specialist knowledge of the sector have been invited and will be happy to share their expert advice.”
The Spring Festival will take place on 16 and 17 May at the Royal Welsh Showground.
Pat O’Doherty, of O’Doherty’s Fine Meats, from Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, has developed a pork pie with truffles and mushrooms, and a pork pie with a herb pastry base, to coincide with the Oscar Wilde Festival, which will take place in the same town.
Wilde attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen before studying at Trinity College in Dublin and Oxford University.
O’Doherty said: “The pig has long been the most important animal in rural communities like Fermanagh and it made sense to create new pork pie flavours to give visitors to Enniskillen an opportunity to enjoy pies with a difference as part of the tourism experience. Pigs were the mainstay of family farms for generations throughout Fermanagh.
“Oscar Wilde would certainly have enjoyed pork in pies and other dishes during his seven years at Portora Royal School. The pies can be eaten hot or cold and provide a tasty treat for visitors to Enniskillen.
”O’Doherty’s Fine Meats is a family-run business, which has provided meat to Enniskillen since the 1940s, and is the pioneer of the award-winning Fermanagh Black Bacon.
Invest Northern Ireland said the launch of the new pies was a further sign of the convergence under way in Northern Ireland between tourism and local food, with O’Doherty also behind the country’s only Black Pudding festival.
Pork farmers supplying Waitrose have saved an estimated £850,000 on feed per year since 2010, following a £3 million investment to roll out an innovative feeding system known as Eco Pig.
The feeding system has a lower environmental impact than traditional systems, according to Waitrose, which reported on the investment in the 2015 John Lewis Partnership annual report, published on 24 April 2015.
Waitrose has a sole pork supplier, Dalehead Foods, and its subsidiary, BQP, footed the £3 million bill.
Waitrose said its “respectful partnership approach” with suppliers had given BQP the ability to invest in the individual farms with which it works. “This helps to increase capacity, improve standards and efficiency, and encourage the next generation of farmers,” the annual report stated. “This respectful partnership approach has given BQP the ability to invest in the individual farms with which it works.”
The report added that, since 2010, 44 of Dalehead’s farmer partners have invested more than £13 million in buildings, during a period of low confidence in the sector as a whole, to create new capacity.
Pork is currently great value for shoppers since retailers have honoured their pledge to stock British product, according to pig levy body Bpex.
The organisation explained that the differential between UK and EU pig prices was at its highest in living memory and usually this would lead to cheaper Continental imports being sucked in, leading to an adjustment in prices. However this has not happened, in part because of the pledge taken by retailers and foodservice firms to stock domestic product following the horsegate scandal.
UK consumers can get great value by buying pork, since UK pigs have fallen in price by more than 15% since the summer, added Bpex.
However, AHDB senior analyst Stephen Howarth said continued loyalty to British pork will be essential in the future: “The majority of those organisations seem to have stuck to the pledge and are still stocking their shelves with British product.
“However, it is now more important than ever for all those organisations to stick to their pledge. Despite there being a huge differential in price, the amount pig producers in this country are being paid has fallen below the cost of production.
“With our forecasts showing that there will be more pork available this year, demand for British pigs will need to be stronger for the price decline to reverse.”
Offal distributor Elmgrove Foods has made the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 list, made up of country’s fastest-growing companies.
Elmgrove Foods of Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, produces more than 100 beef, lamb, pork and chicken offal products, which are all distributed internationally. The company made it to 62 on the Sunday Times list.
To make it into the top 100, companies must have an operating profit of over £500,000 and annual sales must exceed £250,000. The distributor makes 100% of its profits from exports.
Stuart Dobson, managing director, said he was “thrilled” to have made the Fast Track 100 list, adding that the market for fifth-quarter products continues to grow.
“The export business for offal is becoming more and more competitive, with increased numbers of UK export start-ups and international customers coming direct to source products. Forging and maintaining long-lasting relationships between suppliers, customers and our strong team have been our recipe for the company’s success. Elmgrove’s key is creating new products regularly, our portfolio has over 100 products, which are of high quality and exceed customer expectations,” Dobson told Meatinfo.co.uk.
Elmgrove Foods also won last year’s Food and Drink Federation Exporter of the Year award, as well as the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2013.
Richard Branson, owner of Virgin, which has sponsored the fast-track list since it began in 1996, said: “This year’s Fast Track 100 is packed full of examples of entrepreneurs taking on many different challenges head-on. Their success is based on real team spirit and it is this togetherness, above and beyond any other factor, that sets great businesses apart from also-rans. The Fast Track 100 is testament to that spirit of creativity and camaraderie.”
A young butcher has been declared the Yorkshire champion in the 2014 Young Butchers Creative Meat Display Competition.
The event, which is was organised by butchery supplier Dalzeil, saw Joe Smith, from Lishman’s of Ilkley, steal the crown during a close fought competition in Glasshoughton, near Wakefield.
Joe, 21, said: “We were given two hours to work our magic on shoulders of lamb and pork, a knuckle of beef and a brace of chickens. We had to cut them up and make as many dishes as possible out of these products without having any waste.
“The judges were looking at our butchery and presentation skills and the imagination used to create the products. I produced 15 different dishes in total and was over the moon to be chosen as Yorkshire champion. Events like these are a great learning curve.”
Joe, who holds a NVQ Level 2 Meat & Poultry qualification and has completed his apprenticeship, has worked at Lishman’s for the past four years and has progressed quickly, with his efforts seeing him recently promoted to assistant shop manager.
Joe received a trophy, certificate, £100 worth of vouchers and butchery knives to the value of £200, presented by the British and Commonwealth featherweight boxing champion Josh Warrington, of Leeds.
Dalziel’s regional operations manager Mike O’Hara praised all the contestants. He said: “They demonstrated a high level of professionalism and excellent butchery skills. The overall displays were very impressive and inspirational.”