Power of Good from our award-winning food and drink

Consumers here are being urged again to provide greater support to the economy and employment by buying more local food and drink in a major promotional campaign launched this week.

Promotion body FoodNI has developed Our Food: Power of Good, with the NI Regional Food programme of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), which aims to raise the profile of quality local food and increase its consumption here, in the RoI and GB.

Support for the promotion is also being provided by the Livestock and Meat Commission, Ulster Pork and Bacon Forum, and Moy Park, NI’s biggest food company.

The launch follows a run of successes of local food and drink companies, especially artisan and smaller enterprises, in national and international awards for quality and outstanding taste.

Larger companies such as ABP, Linden, Dunbia and Mash Direct have also contributed by collecting international awards.

The aim of Our Food: Power of Good, which has been launched on television, is to persuade shoppers, retailers of all sizes and the hospitality sector here to buy more local food and drink. It celebrates the achievements of our food and drink at home and in over 60 global markets, urging shoppers to look for and to ask retailers about local produce.

“We really do have a host of companies, both large and small and in virtually every sector, focused on original and outstandingly tasty food and drink products which are increasingly being appreciated by shoppers in Britain, Ireland and further afield,” Michele Shirlow, Food NI’s CE, explains.

“In Food NI, we are keen to assist the industry to prosper, indeed to grow stronger here and abroad. While we are supportive of the drive to help our companies to export, and especially in the key neighbouring markets of Britain and Ireland, we also recognise just how important it is to promote the companies and their products to local consumers.

“Success at home is essential in providing companies with a firm base for growth. It provides the confidence and essential cash flow which enables them to look beyond for the sort of growth that will strengthen the position of an industry which employs over 100,000 people and generates more than £5 billion annually to the local economy and especially to rural communities in which most of the companies, both large and small, are based.”

Companies at home and abroad are being supported by imaginative marketing and promotional activities involving creative advertising on television, social media and conventional media.

Promotion bodies such as Love British Food have also stepped up their support which features annual promotions over periods of two weeks.

The Our Food: Power of Good, first launched last year, has been revamped to showcase the quality and taste of our food and drink further and the close relationships between farmers and fishermen and processers here.

“It means eating some of the world’s best produce, food from the most robust and safest farming and production standards in the world,” adds Michele.

“Our food has the power to unite, delight and shine a light on our corner of the world. When we choose local, we are doing people, place and planet the Power of Good.”