An exciting event to promote Cork and Kerry food and artisan producers in the region will take place in Cork City Hall on Monday, 30 June. The meet-the-buyer event is from 9am to 1pm and will open to the public for the afternoon from 1pm.

Food lovers will enjoy the showcase of artisan produce from all over Cork and Kerry, with tastings and demonstrations of a variety of food, ranging from unique cheeses to farm-fresh herbs, confectionery, meat and fish products, as well as cookery demonstrations with celebrity chef and SuperValu ambassador, Kevin Dundon.

The event will also include a conference for food producers, opened by Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Simon Coveney TD, which will discuss opportunities in food retail, consumer trends and the new Food Academy Start programme.

The programme is a national joint initiative led by SuperValu, Bord Bia and the LEOs, aimed at supporting and nurturing start-up food businesses. Speakers from Bord Bia and SuperValu will also be on hand to share their insights into food businesses and retail.

Donegal Rapeseed Oil keeps growing

Established in 2009, Donegal Rapeseed oil uses seed grown on small farms throughout Donegal, Derry and Tyrone.

The seed is cold pressed, filtered, bottled and labelled at a pressing facility near Castlederg, Co Tyrone, making it a truly local product.

With sales of Donegal Rapeseed Oil increasing substantially every year, the company’s managing director, Austin Duignan, decided that now was the time to take stock and develop a clear brand and image that merits the award-winning high-quality product, which, in the future, they hope will sell to overseas’ markets.

Chef Neven Maguire said recently: “I don’t cook with anything else, it has a fantastic nutty taste and it’s great for salads and marinades,”

“When you cook with it, it doesn’t smoke like vegetable or other oils, it gives a great even heat. It really is a fantastic local product, and I’d highly recommend it to everyone.”

Major investment in food enterprise kitchens

As part of their economic development plan, Cork County Council is investing in a number of food enterprise kitchens to be provided in Carrigaline.

These facilities will provide start-up and early-stage food businesses with access to fully-certified commercial kitchens and food production facilities on a highly-flexible basis.

Cork food entrepreneurs will be able to carry out research and development and take their first steps into commercial production, while minimising their overheads and exposure to financial risk.

The high-tech food enterprise kitchens are available to rent on an hourly basis and are suitable for a wide range of food businesses. Conscious of the local business environment, Cork Council has identified a number of their existing business incubation units in Carrigaline that will be fully renovated and converted, creating an entirely new facility for food businesses in the town and region.

Main contractor, Droumleigh Construction Ltd of Bantry, has just commenced work on the site and the incubation units are expected to be available in the autumn.

Cork county manager Tim Lucey explains how these new facilities will benefit the local food sector: “We expect that this investment will create opportunities for a new range of Cork food and drink companies to innovate and take their products to the national and international market.” CL