Northern Ireland loves its meat!

Tourism Northern Ireland is celebrating August as ‘Love NI Meat’ month as part of Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink, in celebration of NI’s array of fantastic producers of meat and the many great places to enjoy it. Northern Ireland is jam-packed with delicious produce harvested by local suppliers ensuring NI has the finest and freshest ingredients available anywhere in the world. NI also produces a huge range of world class beef, pork, chicken and dairy products all just waiting to be tasted.

Northern Ireland Food and Drink companies have punched well above their weight at the recent 2016 UK Great Taste Awards, widely recognised to be the Food Oscars. The Meat Merchant, owned by Peter Hannan, has achieved 36 product awards, a record number of awards for a single food manufacturer in UK and Ireland and in doing so secured a record total of 59 stars. Thirteen local products from eight companies were awarded the highest accolade of three gold stars for their products in the prestigious annual event organised by the influential UK Guild of Fine Food, with 84 local companies securing almost 303 gold stars in total.

Model Emma Carswell helped Finola Guinnane of Tourism NI and Jim Hannon of Hannon Meats launch Love NI Meat month and are encouraging people to find out more about all the scenic BBQ spots that are available around Northern Ireland. Perfect to enjoy a day out on a short break! For further information check out www.discovernorthernireland.com or join the conversation online with #EnjoyNI16.