The annual Tesco Taste Festival was held at the Custom House Square in Belfast last weekend to promote Northern Ireland food supplied by around 60 local companies.

It was the seventh time the event has been held by Tesco and was expected to draw 20,000 visitors over the three days.

The festival included trade stands by NI-based Tesco suppliers, as well as cooking demonstrations.

Speaking at the opening of the event, Tesco NI commercial director Cliff Kells said that the festival has been successful in informing people, who are mainly from urban areas, of the range of produce that is produced on farms in NI.

He also said that it provided a platform to help local companies grow their network by supplying more stores in NI and potentially in Britain.

“Tesco first came to Northern Ireland in 1997. A lot has changed since then but by keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do, I know we will continue to be successful,” he said.

Although often subject to criticism by producers, the supermarket chain is the single biggest customer for NI food and drink, buying £550m of product from NI food companies, something that Tesco seems keen to increase.

All of the fresh beef, pork, milk, chicken and eggs sold in Tesco stores here originate from NI farms. However, lamb is the obvious omission from this list and the presence of New Zealand lamb on Tesco’s shelves, even during peak production in NI, has been a contentious issue for farmers.

When questioned about this, Kells said that the three biggest lines of pre-packed lamb sold in stores here originate from NI farms, which equates to approximately half of pre-packed lamb sales.

“Lamb is more challenging – we have to work hard to sell it to customers. It is not economical to sell 100% Northern Ireland lamb in stores, I wish we could,” he said.

Explaining the Tesco view, Tony McIlroy, corporate relations manager at Tesco, said: “Part of our support for lamb producers is helping customers understand how to cook lamb and to use it as an everyday food. We are as keen as them to see that category grow. ‘‘We sell NZ lamb to keep a consistent supply all year round and to keep customers shopping in the lamb category.”

On the difficult financial situation facing several farming sectors, Kells said: “Many of the problems, like in the dairy sector for example, are global issues that most of us can do very little about. We want all sectors of farming to be sustainable; the industry has overcome difficulties before.”