How did Truly Irish start?

We started out as a group of pig farmers looking to add value. I always had the idea that you needed a brand name to add value. But we also wanted to focus on quality.

Consumers would say to me that pork doesn’t taste like it used to.

In Italy, they have every type of machine to extract moisture but in Ireland and the UK pork processors were using machines to add moisture so they could add weight to the product.

We felt this system didn’t reflect the quality of what we were producing at farm level. We had lost control outside our farm gate.

Where do you process pork?

We contract out everything. When we first started out there were some who didn’t want to see farmers having anything to do with processing.

But others like Callan Bacon in Kilkenny saw potential in what we were doing.

Callan now process all our rashers and bacon joints, while we work with Loughnane’s in Galway for our sausages and pudding.

We give the specification of the cuts we want and supply the cure ourselves.

How do you add value to a staple like pork?

We’re trying something different by offering more functional food, like vitamin D enhanced pork. What you feed animals three or four weeks before slaughter, especially for pigs and chickens, comes through in the meat. Irish people are deficient in vitamin D so we see enhanced pork as a big opportunity.

We’re also feeding our pigs seaweed extracts, which helps reduce nitrates caused by preservatives. With the seaweed extract we’re getting about seven days extra shelf life and a lot less nitrates. We also can’t ignore own brand.

We’re in talks with a major retailers about supplying an own brand range of functional pork.

When did you move into dairy?

We moved into dairy a number of years ago.

Truly Irish had come to be seen as a quality mark so we used that to move into dairy. North Cork Co-op and LacPatrick manufacture and package butter for us for Ireland and export. We also do cheese which is packaged in Kilkenny.

At Anuga, we launched a new protein milkshake that’s very low in sugar and has a long shelf life. It contains 18g of protein for 220ml.

Is there an opportunity for a branded Irish beef product?

I think there probably is.

While we looked at it we haven’t gone down that route yet. But I wouldn’t say no to the possibility of it further down the line. Finding a good partner for it is the key.

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