From good ‘grub’ to plastic free alternatives: Food & Drink Wales sets out its stall as a food innovation nation
19 November 2018
Next week, ten leading Welsh food innovation companies will be present at Food Matters Live, an annual event dedicated to food, health and nutrition at ExCeL in London. On offer will be a wide range of food innovation from insect based foods, dairy free alternative ice creams, through to natural alternatives to petrochemical-derived packaging (such as plastics, detergents, fertiliser and pesticides).
Bug Farm Foods produce delicious, innovative and unique foods made with the sustainable protein of the future – insects! Entomologist Dr Sarah Beynon and award-winning chef Andy Holcroft (featured on BBC’s ‘The Bug Grub Couple’) are the founders of the business.
Based on the couple’s farm, research centre and visitor attraction, The Bug Farm, the recipes have been developed, tried and tested by Andy in his restaurant Grub Kitchen – the UK’s first full-time edible insect restaurant.
Also present will be multi-award winning producer of luxury dairy ice creams, Mario’s. Meeting the growing demand for ‘free-from’ dairy products, Mario’s have developed their own range of luxurious ‘dairy free’ ice creams, available in three flavours and suitable for vegans.
Heather Dallavalle at Mario’s Luxury Welsh Ice Cream, said: “We decided to go down the free-from route as we noticed a huge rise with the amount of people that have turned vegan, or have some sort of intolerances, and we felt that there was a gap in the market for delicious ice cream that was free-from dairy.
“Our dairy free ice cream is made using coconut milk instead of milk and cream and we have continued to maintain our high standards with our dairy free range by sourcing the best quality ingredients.”
The UK market for sustainably produced food and drinks is currently estimated to be worth £8.64 billion and is growing 5% year-on-year. To remain competitive, it’s imperative that Welsh food and drink businesses take the lead in being as environmentally sustainable as possible, with retail, wholesale and the public sectors all actively seeking suppliers that help them meet their corporate social responsibility and legislative objectives.
