UK cereal-friendly firms reward
UK cereal-friendly firms reward
By James Garner
GRANTS totalling £215,000 have been awarded to 14 companies to help them develop products that will increase demand for home-grown cereals.
Businesses recognised at this years Home-Grown Cereal Auth-ority Enterprise Awards include a brewery, a pork processor, a coffee blender and a fancy-egg producer.
The money was handed out as pump-priming cash to help companies develop cereal-based products. To qualify, each product must demonstrate that it will benefit the UK cereal grower.
Paul Biscoe, chief executive of the HGCA, predicted this years projects will increase use of domestic cereals by 94,000t, the biggest since the awards began.
Dalehead Foods, the UKs largest independent and integrated pigmeat processing company, scooped both £30,000 top grants from this years awards, also sponsored by the Meat and Livestock Commission and Food from Britain.
One scheme aims to increase the consumer appeal of pork by improving eating quality. This will also boost UK cereal use by 31,000t/year.
Liz Rees, business development manager, said: "We are trying to do for pork what has been achieved for poultry. We want our product to have consistent eating quality, then we can use sauces and toppings to develop ranges and add value."
The Suffolk-based companys other winning entry was a scheme to increase cereal use in pig diets. The research and development project will use one of the companys subsidiaries, British Quality Pigs, to increase cereal content in pig feed.
BQP technical development manager Alison Johnson explained: "We will focus on barley because this seems to help the health-challenged pig. We want to understand why this works and apply it on our farms."
Badger Brewery in Dorset, was awarded £15,000 for the re-launch of its Hofbrau Bavarian lager.
The lager, which uses 100% Eng-lish malting barley, will be rolled out nationally next year, using another 700t of home-produced cereal.
Other novel schemes included a £7500 award to Grinders Gourmet Coffees to get a premium coffee-barley blend onto the supermarket shelves before it can be copied by rival blenders.
Andrew Richardson, creator of the product – Norfolk Natural – is targeting supermarkets, espresso bars and health food stores with his premium blend.
The coffee contains roasted UK barley, which gives it a subtle nutty taste and the health benefits of lower caffeine than standard coffee with medicinal anti-oxidants.
For the second successive year, Clarence Court – the Worcs-based producer of old-fashioned eggs and eggs with different coloured shells – was awarded £15,000 to help it develop packaging and promotional material.
Selling more eggs will use an extra 2000t of cereals, says owner Janet Lee-Woolf. *