Boost for three local food innovators in Britain

Six products from three local companies – Kestrel Foods in Craigavon, Mash Direct in Comber and Coleraine’s Scott’s Crispy Onions – have won recognition in the UK’s most influential awards for healthy and innovative food and drink.

The local manufacturers came out on top in categories in the influential Freefrom Food Awards (FFA), the UK’s only awards dedicated to food and drink that is free from one or more of the top 14 major allergens. All three are family-owned enterprises with developing sales in Britain.

The successful local companies were listed among many of the UK’s biggest food producers, including supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda, M&S, Lidl and Morrison’s. Major manufacturers such as Warburtons and Nairns also featured in the prestigious awards.

Kestrel, the hugely successful Armagh producer of nuts, dried fruits and breakfast cereals, was the top local performer with four major awards under its Just Live a Little and Forest Feast brands. It was listed in Breakfast Cereals for Gluten-free Apple and Cinnamon Porridge Jumbo Oat Pot, Maple and Toasted Pecan Granola and Maple Porridge, and in the Confectionery category for its indulgent Peppermint Cream Dark Chocolate Coated Almonds.

The judges described the coated almonds as “a delicious mix of flavours using a high quality chocolate. A great after dinner mint alternative that is hard to resist”.

Bronagh Clarke, Kestrel’s marketing director, says: “We are thrilled to have won three significant awards for products in our Just Live a Little and Forest Feast ranges in a market that’s immensely important to us and one in which our products are now selling extremely well. The recognition, of course, will help to raise awareness further of what we offer in the free-from category.”

The innovation-led snack and breakfast specialist, founded and managed by Michael Hall, has become a trailblazer in the developing sector through a sharp focus on highly original flavours and attractive packaging.

The family-owned and managed company, based outside Portadown, is now one of the most innovative and successful producers of breakfast cereals, snack and energy foods, the latter under the ActiSnack brand, in the UK and Ireland.

Mash Direct, the farm-based business from outside Comber, won in the Sides category with its Potato, Cheese and Onion Croquette, one of its hugely successful range.

Mash Direct, owned and managed by the Hamilton family, is now among the most innovative producers of meal sides and veggie products, including the original potato mash product that was launched in 2004 by husband and wife team Martin and Tracy Hamilton as a farm diversification project. Products now include award-winners such as beer battered chips, beer battered onions, prepared vegetables such as carrots, broccoli and turnips, potato cakes and vegetable burgers.

Coleraine’s Scott’s Crispy Onions has been successful in the awards for its Gluten-Free Steak Flavoured Crispy Onions, one of the small company’s popular ready-to-eat products.

The business was launched by Richard Scott in 2012 on the back of a successful vegetable operation formed in 1955. It was the first in the UK to cook, package and retail crispy onions, which it now sells here and across Great Britain. It was the world’s first producer of gluten-free crispy onions.

Richard says: “This recognition in Britain means a lot to our team, as it highlights our commitment to creating flavour-packed, gluten-free options without compromising on taste or texture. Our Gluten-Free Steak Flavour has been carefully developed to deliver the same bold, savoury punch our customers love – just without the gluten.”

All three Northern Ireland winners have significant sales already in Great Britain and further afield. Mash Direct and Kestrel have exported to markets in the US, Europe the Middle East and Asia. Scott’s Crispy Onions has extensive business in Scotland and England.

The Freefrom Food Awards, launched in 2008, celebrate the very best in allergen-free from food and drink. They are recognised for supporting, promoting and actively encouraging both existing and new product development.

The awards enable companies to use an eye-catching logo on their packaging to indicate that a product has been rigorously taste tested and has clear, compliant labelling.

Since 2008, thousands of free from products have been blind tasted by specialist judging panels, featuring chefs, developers, manufacturers, nutritionists and allergy reactors, and many of the judges are well-known figures in the food and allergy worlds.