The company, based at Lisnaskea in rural County Fermanagh, has developed a new dry-cured bacon for the Albert Heijn group. The new Fermanagh branded bacon has been cured using seaweed and has been listed in the group’s ‘Excellence’ range which focuses on sustainably produced food.
As such, Kettyle’s richly flavoured Fermanagh bacon is the first from Northern Ireland to be included in this exacting portfolio of food products which have been produced using sustainable farming and processing techniques.
Maurice Kettyle, commenting on the new business in the Netherlands, says: “We’ve been operating in this influential European market for many years and this has enabled us to keep abreast of trends there.
“Our parent company, Linden Foods in Dungannon, has been supplying beef to supermarkets and foodservice organisations there and has also been conscious of the move towards greater evidence of sustainability that includes good standards of animal welfare.
“We were asked by the retailer if we could supply them with sustainably produced bacon from outdoor bred pigs, which we have been able to do. We decided to offer them a unique Fermanagh bacon from outdoor pigs that also features a distinctively different curing process using seaweed readily available around our shores.
“The buyers there loved our samples and placed a contract with us that could be worth around £1.2 million over the next 12 months. It’s an extremely exciting development that gives us an important platform for further growth with the chain in the Netherlands and will encourage us to explore opportunities in other European markets,” he adds.
Other leading retailers in Europe, Mr Kettyle says, are also starting to insist that suppliers show solid evidence of a commitment to sustainability.
Kettyle Irish Foods, an award winning company which has pioneered dry-aged beef and bacon, has been quick to recognise a developing market trend in the Netherlands for foods which combine taste and sustainability.
The company, a specialist in dry-aging techniques, has won a series of industry awards including, most recently, three gold stars in the UK Great Taste Awards for its dry-aged bone marrow butter.
The company gained a further two star gold was awarded for dry-aged wing rib steak. Other awards were achieved for its dry-aged fillet steak, dry-aged rib eye steak and bacon.
