Four Meath food companies celebrate success at Blas na hÉireann Awards

Four Meath food producers that supply SuperValu have been recognised at Ireland’s biggest food awards, Blas na hÉireann. The Meath food producers took home an impressive nine awards, including Best New Product and two Chef’s Larder awards.

Killua Caste Foods scooped five awards, winning Gold for both its Killua Castle Signature Venison Sausage and Killua Castle Venison Steaks, Silver for its Irish Moiled Fillet Steak and Killua Castle Signature Venison Burger, and a Bronze for its Mushroom and Smoked Cheese Venison Burger.

SuperValu Food Academy businesses also impressed judges with their range of products. A Bit On The Side won Silver for its A Bit On The Side Green Jalapeno Jelly.

Roll It Pastry also won Best In County as well as the Chef’s Larder award for both its Roll It All Butter Puff Pastry and Roll It Plain Shortcrust Pastry.

One of Ireland’s leading meat producers and food innovators, Kepak, won best new product for their SuperValu Irish Beef Dry Aged Striploin, Gold for its SuperValu Signature Tastes Hereford Irish Fillet Steak, and Silver for its SuperValu T-Bone Steak.

Now in its 15th year, the Blas na hÉireann awards is the biggest annual competition for quality Irish produce across the island of Ireland with thousands of products entered. SuperValu’s Food Academy food and drink producers picked up a total of 73 awards, made up of 19 gold, 19 silver and 24 bronze as well as five Chef's Larder's, five best in county and the Rogha na Gaeltachta award.

New producers who started with Food Academy in May this year won 13 awards. This is an endorsement of the quality and innovation of Food Academy’s emerging food and drink brands, which form a major part of SuperValu’s support of indigenous food producers.

Overall, own brand and Food Academy producers and suppliers for SuperValu, Ireland’s number one award-winning supermarket, took home an impressive 119 awards from Blas na hÉireann. As Ireland’s largest grocery retailer, SuperValu is committed to sourcing the best of Irish and local food and has long-standing relationships with more than 1,800 Irish food and drinks producers. Achieving such levels of quality remains a priority for SuperValu and the retailer is proud to be recognised for delivering the best taste and quality products for its customers.

Congratulating the Meath food producers, Ian Allen, Managing Director, SuperValu said, “Huge congratulations to all the Meath food producers – fantastic to see so many awards for them. Without the hard work and commitment to quality from these Irish food producers, we would not have the excellent range of award-winning products available in SuperValu stores. Once again it was a winning year for SuperValu producers at Blas na hÉireann, taking home a total of 119 awards, including 73 awards for our outstanding Food Academy producers. At SuperValu we are committed to supporting more Irish food producers than any other retailer and in delivering both the best quality and value for our customers. Working with more than 1,800 Irish food producers we are immensely proud of our award-winning brands and it’s wonderful to see the local suppliers and producers receive the recognition they richly deserve.”

SuperValu Food Academy is a unique food and drink business development programme between SuperValu, Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs). Participants in the programme receive training in market research and branding, food safety, marketing, finance and business development. Food Academy producers have sold a combined €200 million of produce in SuperValu since 2013, supporting 1,500 jobs in the economy.