Avril Allshire-Howe from Caherbeg Free Range Pork and Rosscarbery Recipes first won at Blas na hEireann in 2012 and her family business has achieved a place on the winners list every year since then. You can find more details on http://rosscarberyrecipes.blogspot.ie/ or more details on this and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory

When & why did you start your business?
The when is easy, 2000, but the why is a story in itself. Willie’s background is business and specifically, printing and stationery, but he always had a grá for the land and we bought our smallholding (<20 acres) because it was small and came with a small house, which was intended for holidays, weekends and retirement! By the way, my family were farming, but I was the person least likely to have anything to do with farming and worked in administration in Cork city (everything from shipping to a funeral home to an oil exploration company & 3 pharmaceutical plants etc). Purchased in 1994, we stayed in Caherbeg for our honeymoon and essentially never again lived in Cork city. Most of the land was leased to a neighbour for the first couple of years, but it was more trouble than it was worth to him, so he didn’t renew in 1997. I suggested that we get 1-2 pigs to keep the weeds down in some of it at least and this was all Willie needed to hear. Within 3 months we had reared 20 free range outdoor pigs from weaner to maturity, and when they were ready, Willie began wholesaling the pork. That was fine, but then I wanted to grow blueberries in the bog and between 1 thing and another, Willie did a Rural Development course with Teagasc locally. At this stage, pigs etc were still very much a hobby, as Willie worked in business fulltime. He arrived home one day in June 2000 and informed me that we would be making free range sausages and dry cure rashers. I thought it was a joke but he was dead serious and in November 2000, he had Caherbeg Free Range Pork Ltd registered; and an on-farm processing unit ready to go. In 2001, we took on another brand, Rosscarbery Recipes, and the difference is that we use locally produced Irish pork for the range. It is not free range. This brand has grown to include international and national award winning black and white pudding; and in October, 2016, the range expanded to Gluten Free Black and White Pudding. Our business development really has been very opportunistic and because of passion rather than hard headed business plans, but it’s our business and we are involved in all aspects.

Who is your food inspiration?
Oh dear, that is such an incredibly difficult question because we’re been inspired by people like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall; John & Sally McKenna; the Black and White Pudding Fraternity members in France who will talk about black and white pudding from morning until night; the other artisan producers across Ireland who we respect as they share our values of honesty, integrity and passion for what they do; and of course chefs and consumers who encourage us to maintain our standards.

What do you love about your job?
Another hard question, but the fact that even though it can be incredibly difficult working with family – husband, Willie, sons, William and Maurice – and none of us exactly the shy retiring types, there’s also the satisfaction when we see product on the shelves; used in recipes; recommended by enthusiasts etc, there’s the confidence that I’ve been involved in making everything and I know the process start to finish. More importantly, that Willie and I have two sons who are as interested and passionate about what we do as we are.

What is your typical day?
I really don’t have a typical day. There’s a routine of manufacture, deliveries, instore tastings, office work but no two days is the same. That suits me to the ground as I’ve a low boredom threshold and I love the variety of making products; delivering them and meeting our customers along the way. Time wise, I could start work anywhere between 4.30am and 8am depending on the day and what we’re doing. On my off time, I really enjoy nothing more than sitting surrounded by a few of my cookbooks which inspire me to experiment with our products, although not all get the thumbs up from the rest of the family by any manner or means.

What is your favourite part of the day?
Probably when I’ve been out and about and I come home knowing that I couldn’t have done anything more in the day and I’ve done my very best by our business and our family.

What was your best day since you started this business?
If I can be so bold as to name 3:
a. Getting the post just before Christmas 1998, and finding that John & Sally McKenna had mentioned us in the Bridgestone Good Food Guide. I confess we didn’t even know who John & Sally were at the time, but couldn’t believe that someone thought we were good enough to include us.
b. On reflection, there have been a few best days: watching Willie accept the Gold Medal for Black Pudding in the biggest European Black Pudding competition in March 2007, just 3 months after launching, and knowing he was the very first Irish person to receive any award.
c. Standing at the back of the function room in Benners Hotel in October 2012, watching the awards being presented, and realising that we had won Gold when Artie Clifford had to repeat the announcement. I was on a high.

Where do your ingredients come from?
The Caherbeg Free Range Pork range uses meat from our own herd of free range outdoor pigs (all outdoors, all year round); and Rosscarbery from locally purchased Irish pork.

Tell us about the people you work with?
Willie, husband, M.D. etc is the driving force behind our business; William, eldest son, did his Leaving Cert in June 2014 and has worked with us full-time since. In 2014, he represented the company doing the SuperValu Food Academy course including the presentation, which was no mean achievement for a then 18 year old; currently he is the youngest participant in the part-time Diploma in Speciality Food Production in U.C.C. He and Willie worked together to develop the Gluten Free Pudding recipes. Maurice who is currently studying for his Leaving Cert had the idea for the sleeve packaging for the gluten free pudding. He too plans to get involved in the business in due course. Both lads are very interested in nutrition and health as they are both involved in crossfit and this relates well to what we’re doing in our business focused on producing high quality food. They are taking up the mantle to drive on the business knowing that this is our pension and their potential livelihood although we haven’t forced them to become involved. They’ve always been with us and have helped as far as they were able; now of course they are nearly adults and are well able to take responsibility but also to discuss what direction we should take into the future. There are four in the family and agreement isn’t always a given with everyone having an opinion so discussion can be hot and heavy at times, but that’s part of our dynamic. Lukas is Czech and has worked with us since he arrived in Ireland in 2008 while Rosemary is married to a local farmer and works with us on a part-time basis.

What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business: integrity, quality and passionate.

Has there ever been a situation which started out as a negative but turned out for the best?
The Pork Crisis in December 2009, was a complete disaster as we had just that week cured all our ham for Christmas. It was very frightening as we didn’t know how long before all our records would be checked but it turned out to be an incredible opportunity as for the first time, the public understood why we maintained two brands and that we had no problem identifying the meat source for each. We did lose some of the pork we had purchased from the local factory as it had originated in contaminated herds, but it was a confidence booster in the long-term as we were able to identify all the relevant meat from our records and this was verified by the FSAI representative. Our HACCP system works and we can go 1 step back and 1 step forwards. I have to say though that I really wouldn’t want to see this recur

Mag Kirwan and her husband Ger are at the centre of the Goatsbridge story. They live on the farm with their family and work together to carry on the proud tradition of purity and sustainability. Each daily catch comes directly from the crystal clear Irish waters of The Little Arrigle and their Smoked Trout Pate was a Gold winner at the 2015 Blas na hEireann awards. You can find their delicious products in major supermarkets around Ireland, specialist shops or even in their own online store.

You can find more details on www.goatsbridgetrout.ie or more details on this and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory

When & why did you start your business? Established in 1964
Who is your food inspiration?  Pat Whelan and Darina Allen
What do you love about your job? Everything! I do not work as my job is a way of living.
What is your favourite part of the day?  Evening when everyone leaves the office and I can get some real work done .

What was your best day since you started this business?  The day we launched Ireland’s first Trout caviar in the Irish market. We trended on twitter, featured in every newspaper and even made the main RTE news.

Where do your ingredients come from?  We produce our fantastic rainbow trout on site

Tell us about the people you work with?  They all have the Goatsbridge Bug. We are building a future for every employee and it is certainly a team effort. We believe it is all about people and encourage all employees to up-skill themselves.

What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business? Dynamic, innovative, sustainable .

What do you think is the key to success? It all starts with the product and people .

Has there ever been one single moment which has changed how you look at your business?  Yes the day I stood beside our fish ponds having had trout for lunch and asked my fiancée why he was not telling his story. I could see it all very clearly that day and 25 years later we continue to work together to build our dream of making Eat Trout a mainstay on every menu and in every household .

Has there ever been a situation which started out as a negative but turned out for the best? I believe there is a reason for everything and we are turning a negative situation into a positive as we speak. Sometimes a negative issues forces a change that should happen regardless.

The McNeece Family have been in the business of fruit for over 50 years. Their cider was a bronze winner in 2015, also taking home a bronze for their Stameen Farm Vinegar and a Best in County award, sponsored by Louth Local Enterprise Office. You can find their cider in over 120 bars, restaurants and off licenses across the country, check if you can find them in your local here http://www.dankellyscider.com/stockists. You can find more details on Dan Kelly’s Cider and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory

When & why did you start your business? My father started the apple growing business in Drogheda in 1962, family members joined later!

Who is your food inspiration? Anybody who goes into business producing food!

What do you love about your job? What do I love about the job? Every day is different. Whether it’s a new challenge in the orchard or with a customer, small business like ours means you have to be very flexible.

What is your typical day? See above!

What is your favourite part of the day? Going home to see the kids, they’re still quite young so still pretty uncomplicated!

What was your best day since you started this business?
Seeing your product being sold in other countries is a nice feeling.

Where do your ingredients come from?
We grow them. If we need some other varieties then we buy from other apple growers in Ireland.

Tell us about the people you work with? 
Father (Gerard) Brother (John Paul) and Sister (Fiona) A cousin of ours, Niall also works with us. Henry Mallon has been with us so long that he has seen four generations of our family work here. Marina is from the Ukraine. We have various seasonal workers as well.

What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business?
3 words… Myself: Motivated, Curious, Dogsbody.    Business: Small, Flexible, Ambitious

What do you think is the key to success? As my father once told me “It won’t work if you don’t work hard at it.”

Has there ever been one single moment which has changed how you look at your business?
Single moment: Not really, more a constant accumulation of events.

Has there ever been a situation which started out as a negative but turned out for the best?
Lots! Sometimes business that you didn’t win leaves opportunity for other business.

How are you preparing for Christmas at work?
Whilst Christmas is not very busy for cider, we are busy grading and packaging apples for our customers.

What food really represents Christmas to you? Christmas Pudding and Mulled Cider of course!

Laura Sinnott and her husband Tom have been running the familiy business since 2008. At the 2015 Blas na hEireann awards they were awared Best in Wexford, as sponsored by Wexford LEO and also won a Bronze award for their Simply Better Irish Raspberry Coulis.

You can find more details on Wexford Home Preserves and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory or you can find more details on http://blog.wexfordpreserves.ie/

When & why did you start your business?
Myself and my husband Tom took over Wexford Home Preserves from Tom’s Aunt Ellen in 2008. Ellen and her husband Sean

had started the business in 1988 but at retirement age had decided to sell up. I have a background in Hotel & Catering and Tom a background in Supermarkets so we seized this opportunity and bought the business.

Who is your food inspiration?
I have several go to well used recipe books I go to for inspiration; Nigella is my number one for something luxurious, decadent and delicious. If I want to impress with a show-stopping dinner I go between Kevin Dundon and Nevin Mc Guire.

What do you love about your job?
I love being able to create new products and ranges. I have been dealing with people all of my life working in Hotels and I love this, being out and about doing tastings and talking to our customers gives me great satisfaction. Being our own bosses is a major plus as well having two very small children it means we can be flexible to suit their needs. We get to work together; some people may see this as a negative but not us.

What is your typical day?
A typical day includes being up and out the door by 8.30, drop Robbie and Lila to Crèche and in work by 9. Then it varies, as an entrepreneur you need to do whatever needs to be done really, from deliveries to packing product, new product development and generally managing the day to day running of the business.  We work long hours and I must say the business is never far from your mind but we have a rule to take weekends off, this was drilled into us from Ellen, and it’s a good rule to keep because if you let it your business will take up all of your time.

What is your favourite part of the day?
I love that part of the day when the kitchen has been cleaned down, lights are being turned off and everyone saying goodbye until tomorrow, you can look back on the day and think that was a great day look how much we achieved.

What was your best day since you started this business?
Aside from the birth of our two children Lila [4] and Robbie [3]… The best day since we started has to be the launch of our new premises in 2013, we moved to a bigger premises with a customised kitchen, this was due to demand for our products. It was a great sense of achievement and excitement of what was to come, and it was the best move we ever made.

Where do your ingredients come from?

We like the ingredients we use in our products to be local [down the road] ingredients. And we have been successful in sourcing almost all of our ingredients of such incredible quality from our local growers. We can now label our products Wexford Strawberry Jam, Wexford Blackcurrant Jam, Wexford Blackberry & Apple Jam, Wexford Rhubarb & Ginger … and the list goes on.

Tell us about the people you work with?
We have a great team of people who we work with in Wexford Home Preserves and without them we wouldn’t be where we are today. Everyone who works with us cares about what we do and this has to be the most important thing.

What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business?
Family / Handmade / Quality

What do you think is the key to success?
I think the key to success is to never stop caring about your products; you have to have a passion for what you do. We strive to be the best at what we do.

Has there ever been one single moment which has changed how you look at your business?
Yes when we decided to take on a marketing expert, Paula Ronan from Ronan Marketing. This has benefited our business hugely.

Has there ever been a situation which started out as a negative but turned out for the best?
When we first started our business we found it difficult to source local fruit, but now we are engaging with our local growers and they can supply us with a high quality product and this has turned out to be very beneficial to our business and promoting local.

How are you preparing for Christmas at work?
Retailers start talking about Christmas in June! We have been preparing for Christmas since September and we are now nearly over that mad period. It’s crazy busy but it’s a great feeling, adrenalin is pumping and we know that on the 18^th of December we will be locking the doors and going home to enjoy Christmas with our families and friends after accomplishing yet another great year in business.

What food really represents Christmas to you?
I love all things Christmas. I especially love making puddings and Christmas cake, the smell in the house is divine. I also love brussel sprouts par boiled and then finished off in the pan with a knob of butter and little pieces of bacon, salt and pepper. My Mam makes the best pavlova and we have this after Christmas dinner every year, this, and enjoying food with my family and friends makes a great Christmas.

Cian and Paul from Pure Food Co brought home to Waterford a Gold award for their Sundried Tomato & Chilli Pesto as well as a Best in Farmers Market Award, sponsored by Waterford LEO. You can find their products in Ardkeen Stores, Pettitts of Wexford, Quishs in Tramore, Eurospar Kilkenny and in Dungarvan Farmers Market.

You can find more details on Pure Food Co and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory or you can find more details and updates from Cian & Paul on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/purefoodcompany

We set up the business in March 2014. Both myself and Paul are Qualified Horticulturists and we met while teaching a course on growing veg organically. We decided to give up on the teaching (for now) and set up our own business producing our own range of herbs and leaves. We both love to be outdoors in the garden (Cian won RTEs Supergarden and subsequently went on to receive a Silver medal at Bloom in the Park in 2014) and foraging for our native species of edible plants and fruit.

We soon came to realise that we could not compete with the big boys and decided that we needed to use our produce to create our own products. We produce a range of pickles, relishes and preserves but our main line of products are our pestos. We produce 9 different pestos depending on what is available at a particular time of year. From wild garlic to nettle to coriander and many in between!

We both get on very well and have great banter in the kitchen and when out in the growing area. My personal favourite aspects of the job is developing new recipes, tending to our growing and foraging for wild woods.

Typical day is up at 4am to harvest our herbs, in the kitchen to produce by 5 and in the market by 9! We make everything fresh for the markets and shops. Tough work but well worth it!

Our best day since starting the business was receiving the Gold medal at the Blas na hEireann awards. Our hard work and dedication was recognised and we were chuffed to receive the award.

Our ingredients, well we grow what we can, all to organic principles although we are not certified organic. Sometimes the herbs need to be supplemented and we only use local suppliers. All our ingredient and packaging are locally sourced, we are firm believers of keeping business in Ireland.

Three words to describe us; hmmmm. . . fun, creative and hard working!

We are very busy coming up to Christmas this year, we have our products in numerous hampers, but most of our time will be spent doing in store tastings to meet and greet our customers over the festive period.

Food that represents Christmas to me has to be my Dads potato stuffing, oh and a boozy trifle!!

 

 

Irene’s Pip & Pear Baby Food swept the boards at Blas na hEireann in 2014 & 2015, with winners of Gold, Silver & Bronze in the baby food category each year. Since winning at Blas in 2014 Pip & Pear Baby Food is now available in the dairy fridge of over 100 SuperValu stores across the country and also in Carrefour Supermarket stores in Spain.

You can find more details on Irene and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory or you can more more details on www.pipandpear.ie

When & why did you start your business?
I love good food and I love to cook so when we had our children I imagined I would cook all my own baby food, but being a busy parent of two, I very quickly discovered that it can be very difficult to juggle all that life throws at you and manage a new baby and work and then another new baby.

I found it very frustrating and near to impossible to find a healthy alternative to home cooking when I needed it. All I could find was heavily processed long shelf life pouches and jars which didn’t look or taste anything like the baby food I was cooking at home, and so the idea for Pip & Pear Chilled Baby Food was born.

I started cooking small batches in 2014 and trialling these with customers of our restaurant No. 9 Café in Waterford, the feedback was brilliant and after winning Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Blas na hEireann Awards we knew we had to keep going and launch the range into the market.

What do you love about your job?
I really enjoy hearing positive feedback from happy parents and babies, this reassures me that we are definitely doing something right!

What was your best day since you started this business?
One of the best day’s since we have started is when I brought my son Luca to see Pip & Pear on the shelves of SuperValu for the first time. He was very sweet and took €2 from his pocket and told me he wanted to buy his favourite pot – Banana Blue. I was so proud!

Where do your ingredients come from?
Our Beef, Chicken and Lamb are all 100% Irish and Bord Bia approved which means that we can trace our meat and poultry back to the farm and our Fish is Bord Iascaigh Mhara approved also. All of our fruit and vegetables are 100% organic.

Has there ever been a situation which started out as a negative but turned out for the best?
The creation of our range was one of our biggest barriers, to do what we have done is as technically challenging as food science and food technology gets. It turns out that the simpler and more natural a product you want to make, the harder it becomes. It took time but I knew that our product would stand strong in the market as it is of such high quality and so I felt confident that we could certainly compete with the more established brands.

Has there ever been one single moment which has changed how you look at your business?
Yes there has been many small moments that made us stop and look at things differently. When we first launched we were naturally nervous and hoping that people would relate to our brand and understand the product. Once the feedback from parents began trickling in, we could see that our launch was a success. Parents from all around Ireland were thanking us for creating a product that was just like their own home-cooking; tasty, nutritious and convenient without the guilt.

What do you think is the key to success?
I think the key to success is believing in your idea and having the confidence to create something innovative. It is also very important to ask for advice and learn from other people’s experiences in the industry.

How has winning at Blas made an impact on the business?
Winning Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Blas na hEireann Awards in 2014 was the major turning point for Pip and Pear, these awards gave us the confidence and motivation to launch the range into the market. The Blas na hEireann awards ceremony offers many small producers the platform and opportunity to meet with retailers and this greatly helped us to achieve our listing with SuperValu. We simply couldn’t believe it when we swept the boards again at the 2015 awards. Our brand awareness increased dramatically and customers’ confidence is automatically gained once they learn that we have won these prestigious awards.

What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business?
Friendly, Creative and Innovative.

Clodagh Davis of Naturally Cordial was the winner of Best in Farmer’s Market for Wexford at the 2015 Blas na hEireann awards reaching the finals this year with two fantastic products, Naturally Cordial Orange and Cranberry & Naturally Cordial Wexford Blackcurrant.

You can find more details on Clodagh and our other winners and finalists in our 2015 directory or you can meet Clodagh at the upcoming Craft Fair at the RDS (4th – 6th Dec) and find the cordial’s in Ardkeen Quality Food Store (available online from Ardkeen too! www.ardkeen.com), Avoca, Ballycross Apple Farm, Delgany Food Store, Kate’s Farm Shop, Ronan’s Full & Plenty, Malone’s Fruit Farm, Enniscorthy Farmers Market and in SuperValus from Waterford to Malahide. 

When & why did you start your business? 
Naturally Cordial was started in May 2013 after I was made redundant.   I had run a cordial stall at a school Country Market the previous year and had thought at the time,  that as the feedback was so positive, there could be a business in it.  So, when I was made redundant, I thought that was the time to give it a try.
Who is your food inspiration? Darina Allen – slow food made with good, ingredients.
What do you love about your job? Experimenting with new flavours and seeing how customers respond to the cordials.
What is your typical day? No typical day apart from production days and tasting days.
What is your favourite part of the day?  First thing, drinking my coffee and planning the day/week or month ahead.
What was your best day since you started this business? Being totally swamped at the Irish Craft and Design Fair in the RDS last year and knowing for certain that I had a good product.
Where do your ingredients come from?  My blackcurrants come from two farms in Co. Wexford; my raspberries come from Greenhill Fruit Farm in Wexford (my neighbour) and also Clarke’s Farm in Meath.  My cranberries come from Slieve Bloom farm in Offaly.
Tell us about the people you work with?  Eileen is the main person I work with.  We met when we were both doing a literacy tutor course and discovered we had both lived in Kenya.  She’s an artist and fits our quirky but naturally cordial approach perfectly.  We have great discussions about anything and everything.
What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business?  Quirky, Naturally Cordial.
What do you do/where do you go when you take time out?  To the Garden!! Or for a swim in the sea –Wexford has such fabulous beaches.
Do you listen to music when you work? Only when I am working alone so I can sing along!  I was listening to Leonard Cohen and Crowded House the other day during production but for doing paperwork Albinoni’s Oboe Concerti (Adagios only when I really need to focus).  I like my children’s music too such as Imagine Dragons, Green Day, Lumineers
How are you preparing for Christmas at work?  Lots of production – preparing for the  RDS Food Emporium (4^th – 6^th Dec).  Making loads of Cranberry& Orange cordial.  Secretly hoping I might get time to go to Monart Spa for afternoon tea with Eileen.
What food really represents Christmas to you?  Mince pies with home-made orange & brandy mincemeat – Yum!
What do you think is the key to success? Love your product and make it the best you can.

Best in Farmers Market Wexford was kindly sponsored by Wexford LEO https://www.localenterprise.ie/Wexford/

Quinlan’s Fresh Kerry Crab Meat was awarded the Supreme Champion award, as sponsored by Bord Bia, at the 2015 Blas na hEireann awards, their Smoked Irish Salmon cured with Irish Atlantic Sea Salt infused with Dill Pollen was also a gold winner. Find details of these and more in our directory of winners & finalists
www.kerryfish.com

When & why did you start your business? My father started the business in 1963 and I joined in 1985 as I always had a passion to be involved
Who is your food inspiration?  Rick Stein and his passion for seafood
What do you love about your job? Variety and the constant challenges faced from working with and trying to source fresh seafood
What is your typical day? I don’t have one and this is what is so good! However, a normal day would be in to the factory about 7.30 and I could end up in any one of our retail stores talking to our customers getting feedback and improving what we do.
What is your favourite part of the day? Early morning when the factory is in full flight
What was your best day since you started this business? There have been two… Winning Blas Supreme Champion as it recognised the quality of seafood we are producing and winning the Radio Kerry Business of the year as it recognised our solid business base
Where do your ingredients come from? We are lucky to have vessels that land their catch every night in Portmagee and Dingle as well as larger vessels that can stay out for a few days so this provides us with a huge variety of seafood.
Tell us about the people you work with? We are lucky to have great people. We have 4 people with over 40 years experience each and they pass on skills to all the younger members of the team.
What three words would you use to describe yourself/your business? Honest, loyal and hardworking. These virtues will help any business succeed
What do you think is the key to success? Quality always wins
Has there ever been one single moment which has changed how you look at your business? Not one single moment however it is an ongoing process adapting to our customers’ needs.
Has there ever been a situation which started out as a negative but turned out for the best? The recession as this allowed us to expand our retail business
How are you preparing for Christmas at work?
We have just started smoking salmon for export this week and we are also busy freezing down the last of our Kerry Crab as the boats will shortly bring their pots ashore
What food really represents Christmas to you?
Dingle Bay Prawn Cocktail, Wild Smoked Kerry Salmon and Valentia Harbour Scallop Mornay

 

It is with great pleasure that we bring you this directory of the 2015 finalists and winners of Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards. These represent the very best producers in Ireland who are creating outstanding food and drinks. We are very proud to support them.

This booklet also contains information about the way we judge, and the care that we take during the adjudicating process so that Blas na hEireann can create the a level playing field for all producers, both large and small. We hope that you will find this a useful guide for sourcing Irish products.

You will find the booklet in the November issue of Shelflife magazine or just get in touch with us and we will be happy to send on a copy.

Take a look at our 2015 Directory

In June 2014 the then Limerick-based, honey business Irish Bee Sensations entered its Irish Heather Honey into Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards. The product subsequently went on to win a Gold Award in the honey category, which was announced in October 2014. The product was entered by Tom and Croen Ruttle of Irish Bee Sensations.

In mid-March 2015, Blas na hEireann was contacted with a query about the (Irish) provenance of the honey that Irish Bee Sensations had entered. “Our aim is to celebrate fantastic tasting Irish produce, not to investigate producers on behalf of the industry” says Chairman of Blas na hEireann, Artie Clifford, “however we took the complaint seriously and an enquiry commenced”.

As well as entering into an ongoing dialogue with the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations (FIBKA) and the Environmental Health Office (EHO), Blas na hEireann also approached all of the relevant government agencies for advice on where to test the honey in laboratory conditions to get more precise information about its provenance.

In April 2015 a second sample of the Irish Bee Sensations product, with a different batch number to that entered into the Awards, was sourced from a retailer. This was a number of months after the Blas na hEireann Awards Presentation in October 2014. Samples from both the batch of honey submitted to the competition, and that obtained from the retailer were sent to the Bremen-based Intertek laboratory for pollen analysis, to determine the botanical and geographical origin of the samples by microscopy and to determine the absolute pollen content by microscopy.

The results of this analysis have now been examined by both Blas na hEireann and FIBKA.

Philip McCabe for FIBKA is confident that “the samples of honey are 100% Irish”.

Academic Director to Blas na hEireann, Prof Joe Kerry of the Department of Food Science UCC, concurs with the results and with FIBKA.  He adds, “The pollen varieties isolated and identified from the honey samples are typical of Southern Ireland. This is consistent with the information provided by Mr Tom Ruttle at the time of entry”.

Artie Clifford states, “Our enquiry has been very thorough. We have examined the issue from many angles. We can confirm that the results of our enquiry indicate that honey producer, Mr Tom Ruttle, met all of the criteria set out in the terms and conditions for entering Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards, in which his product won a coveted Gold Award in 2014.”

BACKGROUND TO BLAS NA HEIREANN ENTRY PROCEDURE AND IRISH BEE SENSATIONS ENTRY
The Terms & Conditions for entering a product into the Blas Awards clearly state the requirements of that product/producer in terms of its (Irish) provenance. https://www.irishfoodawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Blas-na-hEireann-2015-Application-Form.pdf

In addition, the Irish Bee Sensations honey carried, as is required of all of the products entered into the Awards, its producer’s EHO/HSE/Dept of Agriculture unique number.  In this case the producer submitted their Environmental Health Office approval number, which was verified by the Awards.

The product was also submitted with the FIBKA approval seal – the Federation’s guarantee of a pure Irish honey product, along with the producer’s FIBKA registration number, which is the registered number of T Ruttle, a beekeeper from Co Limerick, which was also verified.

Blas requires each producer to submit five samples of each product for the judging process.  One of these samples is held as a control, pictured. The FIBKA seal and number are clearly visible. At the entry and judging stage therefore all of the indications were that the product entered was a pure Irish honey product produced by Irish Bee Sensations using Irish honey.

INFORMATION TO DATE FROM FIBKA
Please note the following information was issued to us by FIBKA which we received on 2^nd June

“The Federation label acts as a seal over the cap of the honey jar and has a number on it and also the Federation’s Logo. The labeling scheme is confined to FIBKA members who pack only Irish honey and whose names and addresses appear on the honey jar.”

“Mr. Tom Ruttle was a member of the Kingdom Association in North Kerry although he had not renewed his membership for 2015. He has been a beekeeper of long standing and highly regarded by all who knew him. In 2001 his was Honorary Secretary of the Co. Limerick Association and a well-established beekeeper.”

“From the information available to FIBKA, Tom managed over 50 colonies (hives) in a number of Aparies in South Limerick and North Kerry over a long number of years. He was a very approachable and helpful person and was very forthcoming with his help, especially to new beekeepers. Regarding his honey production, with over 50 hives for the past two years he would have expected to harvest an average of 40 pounds of honey per hive from production colonies.”

This would have provided the producer with approximately 4,000 jars of honey per year in the jar size used by Irish Bee Sensations.