Recognising sustainability excellence in Irish food and drink sector

Origin Green, Ireland’s food and drink sustainability programme, has awarded 55 food and drink companies Gold Membership in recognition of their industry leading sustainability ambitions in 2022, Deirdre Ryan, director of Origin Green and Sustainable Assurance at Bord Bia, said.

“The aim of Origin Green and its members is to inspire the entire Irish food and drink industry towards sustainable production, and it gives me great pleasure to announce 55 new Gold Members for 2022,” she said.

Many Irish food and drinks businesses are now genuinely embracing sustainability at the core of their operations, while customers are asking them to account for their environmental credentials and future commitments.

Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme was developed to enable Irish suppliers to prove their sustainability credentials to customers and build Ireland’s reputation as a leading source of sustainable food and drink.

The annual Gold Member event, now in its third year, acknowledges the efforts of companies which have achieved exceptional annual performance on their sustainability targets in areas such as raw material sourcing; water and energy efficiency; waste reduction; packaging; and social sustainability based on the assessment of Mabbett, its independent verification authority.

“Our annual Gold Member event, now in its third year, recognises the efforts of companies which have achieved exceptional annual performance across their sustainability targets,” said Ryan.

“It’s wonderful to see the range of awardees from all areas of the industry this year, as the assessment of Gold Membership allows smaller companies to be recognised alongside large organisations for the strength of their sustainability achievements.

“The inception of the Gold Membership in 2020 has strengthened the ambition of our members, and encouraged Irish food and drink companies to increase their sustainability efforts, in order to differentiate themselves from the competition in the marketplace.”

Since the establishment of the awards in 2020, some 130 Irish food and drink companies have been awarded Gold Membership. The number of awardees has increased year on year, highlighting the meaningful focus that companies are giving to their sustainability efforts in response to the urgency of climate change and the need for sustainable food production. This year, three companies are being recognised for their third consecutive year of Origin Green Gold Membership: Butler’s Chocolates in Dublin, Norfish in Co Donegal, and Slaney Foods in Wexford.

Michael Murphy, interim chief executive at Bord Bia, said: “As the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme, Origin Green is instrumental in proving and improving sustainability across our industry and demonstrating this to customers around the world.

“It’s wonderful to see this acceleration of sustainability actions thrive across our food and drink sector, as we celebrate and recognise the exceptional sustainability results of our 55 Gold Members.”

The 55 companies come from 18 counties and represent sectors such as seafood and aquaculture, dairy, meat, confectionery, beverages and horticulture.

Ten years since this world-leading programme was launched, Origin Green holds the unique position of being the only sustainability programme globally to measure and monitor sustainability across the entire national food supply chain.

Origin Green has grown to collaborate with 55,000 farms and more than 300 leading Irish food and drink companies to prove and improve their sustainability practices to meet the evolving needs of global customers and consumers.

Origin Green Gold Members 2022

Through independent verification, the companies below were awarded Origin Green Gold Membership in 2022:

1. ABP Foods

2. Arthur Mallon Foods

3. Aurivo

4. Ballykilcavan Brewing Company

5. Bantry Bay Seafoods

6.Butlers Chocolates

7. Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers

8. Clonakilty Food Co

9. Dairygold Food Ingredients

10. Dawn Meats Group

11. Divilly’s Ltd

12. Dole plc

13. Drioglann Sliabh Liag CGA

14. E Flahavan & Sons Ltd

15. East Coast Bakehouse

16. Epicom Food Limited trading as Complex Nutrition

17. Errigal Bay

18. Feldhues GmbH

19. Filligans Ltd

20. Finnegan’s Farm

21. Greenhill Fruit Farm Ltd

22. Hassetts Bakers & Confectioners

23. Ice Cream Treats Ltd

24. Irish Distillers

25. Kearney’s Home Baking

26. Keelings

27. Kepak Group

28. Kerry Fish (IRL) UC/Quinlans Fish/Kenmare Select

29. Kerry Group

30. Killowen Farm

31. Kinnegar Brewing

32. Kush Seafarms Ltd

33. Lee Strand Cooperative Creamery Ltd

34. McCormack Family Farms

35. Meade Farm Group

36. Meitheal Trá na Rinne Teo

37. Molloy’s Abbeytown Ltd/Honest Bakery

38. Murphys Home Bakery

39. Newgrange Gold

40. Niks Tea Limited

41. Norfish Ltd

42. Nutramara Ltd

43. Nutrition Supplies

44. Ornua

45. Pearse Lyons Distillery

46. Rockfield Dairy Ltd

47. Sam Dennigan & Company UC

48. Simpli Baked

49. Slaney Foods

50. Staunton Foods Ltd

51. The Culinary Food Group

52. The Foods of Athenry

53. The White Hag

54. Velo Coffee Roasters

55. Wexford Home Preserves