Food companies in Northern Ireland, especially smaller businesses and artisans, will benefit from a new £3m food innovation centre that will assist them in developing and preparing new products for consumers.
The new centre, located on the campus of the region’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprises (CAFRE), will aim to encourage creativity and idea generation within the food and drink sectors. It includes teaching and industrial-style kitchens, sensory analysis suite, packaging prototype design area and creativity rooms.
Additionally, the building in County Tyrone has been designed with environmental sustainability in mind and features biomass heating, solar PV and rainwater harvesting systems.
Opening the centre, Northern Ireland’s agriculture and rural development minister Michelle O’Neill said: “The agri-food sector remains the most resilient part of our local economy, recording year-on-year growth at a time when other industries are falling behind.
“It is important that the sector is positioned to exploit market opportunities, supplying the right products at the right price and the right time. Food innovation is a key driver for growth of this area so this new state-of-the-art centre is essential in our drive for economic growth here.
“This superb facility will act as a catalyst to inspire [students at CAFRE’s Loughry campus] and provide our agri-food companies the opportunity to develop world class innovative products to meet the ever-changing demands of the consumer.”
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