'It’s a brilliant reflection of the quality and care': Magnificent seven awards for taste for Lisnaskea’s Kettyle Irish Foods

Lisnaskea-based Kettyle Irish Foods is celebrating outstanding achievements for Northern Irish meat at this year’s recently unveiled UK Great Taste Awards 2026, along with shortlistings that could mean further success in the Blas na hEireann, Irish National Food Awards, in Dingle, Co Kerry, in October.

The awards are a further boost for the company’s extensive national and international business prospects.

The respected Northern Ireland producer, now part of ABP Group, Ireland’s biggest meat producer and one of the most successful in Europe, gained 11 ‘stars’ for seven products in Great Taste.

The Fermanagh producer gained a coveted three stars for Salt Moss Dry Aged Pork Belly. Three stars for ‘exquisite’ taste is the top award in the highly influential competition, one of the world’s most respected annual events in the food industry.

Kettyle also won two stars for ‘outstanding’ taste for Dry Aged Marrow Burger and Salt Moss Dry Aged Fillet Steak. A further four products were named one-star ‘simply delicious’ successes. These were: Salt Moss Dry Aged Striploin Steak; Salt Moss Dry Aged Ribeye Steak; Beef Bone Marrow Melt; and Butchers Gold.

The seven Kettyle products were among 145 winners from Northern Ireland in the prestigious annual awards. Kettyle was also among a total of 13 achieving the top three-star award for an exquisite taste experience.

This year, more than 15,000 products were entered into Great Taste from 3,919 companies in 116 countries, a record number, including products from nine countries entering for the first time.

The good news continued, with five Kettyle products now reaching the finalist stage of the Blas na hEireann Awards 2026: Butchers Gold; Bone Marrow Melt; Pork Tomahawk; Pork Loin Rind On; and Fillet Steak.

Kettyle Irish Foods was among hundreds of food and drink producers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to reach the final stages of Blas following rigorous judging sessions involving top food experts, including dozens of chefs and influential food writers.

Other prestigious awards have included gold at the 2023 World Steak Challenge.

A spokesman for Kettyle Irish Foods said: “We’re incredibly proud to see such a broad range of our premium products recognised, and it’s a brilliant reflection of the quality and care that goes into everything we do at Lisnaskea in Co Fermanagh.”

Founded in 2014 by Maurice Kettyle, who grew up on a Fermanagh beef farm and subsequently worked for major international meat producers, Kettyle Irish Foods has developed into a highly acclaimed premium meat brand, internationally renowned and celebrated by restaurant food critics and top chefs. It has been described by a top chef and restaurant owner in England as ‘the finest dry-aged beef in the world’.

In addition to supplying high-end eateries in Britain, Ireland and further afield, Kettyle now works with premium retailers such as Marks and Spencer on creating innovative meat products for customers.

Salt-aged steak connoisseurs and dry-aged beef and lamb lovers in search of an outstanding taste experience can also enjoy Kettyle Irish Foods’ multiple award-winning grass-fed meats from Fermanagh, available to order online and at selected Tesco stores here.

Having grown up on the family farm in Fermanagh, Maurice Kettyle applied his knowledge of animal husbandry, diet and welfare to develop the award-winning brand that has become one of Ireland’s most acclaimed. Only the very best Irish grass-fed cattle from small-scale family farms on the island of Ireland make the Kettyle cut.

Maurice also pioneered an original dry-ageing craft for the premium meat and went on to patent his own Salt Moss dry-ageing process.

Premium cuts of meat are carefully dry-aged within a handcrafted Irish organic seaweed salt brick chamber to remove moisture. This renders the fat to a dry flakiness, resulting in quicker caramelisation in the pan and a better eating experience. The texture, depth and concentration of flavours are unique to the acclaimed Kettyle brand. Salt moss is hand-harvested from the Irish coastline.

The salt moss chambers developed from a recognition that the company needed to set itself apart in a hugely competitive industry. It had “to do something better” for international growth. This led to the unique curing process for quality, texture and flavours.

This is why Kettyle decided to create its own new and unique Salt Moss Ageing chambers using handcrafted seaweed salt bricks – bringing the Irish sea to the Irish land.

The salt moss process produces an extensive selection of prime beef and steak cuts, along with burger, marrow, pork and lamb, which is currently available to purchase online.

Highlights include Dexter Thor’s Hammer – a unique cut to Kettyle – along with Kettyle’s King Arthur Joint, Marrow Burger, Guinness Burger, Lamb Rack, Fillet Steak, Tomahawk Steak and an innovative, versatile Bone Marrow Melt Chubb.

Kettyle is proud of its Irish heritage and its exclusiveness, which are not only dependent on Fermanagh’s abundance of soft temperate rain, but also on the skills and traditions of the people and families who have nurtured the land and its produce.