Mervyn has ideas for shoppers to bring home more bacon

home pizzas, salads and other convenient snacks.

A popular presence at farmers’ and food markets across Northern Ireland for almost a decade, Mervyn, a long-time pig farmer in Tyrone and Food NI member, has developed an award winning range of bacon and gammon products that are dry-cured with no added water and free-from ‘nasties’ such as phosphates. The novel products he’s just launched include pre-cooked bacon strips which are ideal for snacking or home cooked meals including salads, pizzas and pasta dishes.

In addition, he’s created dry-cured ‘bacon bits’ in bulk for the fast growing pizza industry in Ireland and further afield.

“The new pre-cooked bacon is a response to demand from shoppers at markets across Northern Ireland and in the Republic for my products in a more convenient format for use as an ingredient for meals and snacks prepared at home,” he explains.

“We’ve seen this consumer demand increase substantially due to the recent coronavirus lockdown. More people than ever before are clearly cooking at home and keen to experiment with ready-to-eat ingredients. They are also more concerned about what they are eating and are now taking greater control of their own nutrition.

“This has also led to more shoppers taking a greater interest in how the foods they buy are produced and the people making them. There’s now a greater awareness of the important role in food production of local artisans in particular.”

He’s recently expanded production at the business he established in 2013 to meet the growing demand for bacon products which have won UK Great Taste and Blas na hEireann awards over the past five years.

The expansion has included increasing production and dry-curing capacity at the modern factory on his extensive pig farm at Glenhordial, near Omagh town, and a new unit he’s developing at Magheraroarty in the Donegal Gaeltacht especially for the market in the Republic.

“We’ve had to increase production capacity because of the growth in business especially in Northern Ireland and the tremendous interest in our bacon now being shown in the Republic,” he continues.

A third generation farmer, Mervyn launched the bacon processing business as a farm diversification project in 2013. He concentrated on developing his own dry- curing technique to give his products a distinctive taste and edge in a fiercely competitive marketplace.

“What helps to set my bacon apart is my unique dry-curing technique. It’s my own recipe from experience rearing my own pigs. I also slice, prepare and package the bacon. This means the entire process is under my control, ensuring consistent quality and total traceability. I decided to concentrate on dry-curing because I wanted to develop different products that didn’t involve pumping the bacon with water and preservatives. My bacon is cured in as near to the traditional way as possible, using the minimum amount of cure. This process also leaves the bacon less salty.  

“The result, I believe, is a tasty product that leaves a clean pan or grill. And with no water added the bacon tastes as it should, savoury, yummy and moreish particularly at breakfast time,” he adds. “The pre-cooked bacon is a response to shoppers for a more convenient and versatile product. All the bacon, gammon and sausages are carefully produced by me to ensure the taste consumers now expect from us,” he explains.

His dry-cured bacon range has also attracted business from leading food retailers ncluding Eurospar and Supervalu here.

“My role as owner of the company is to ensure a consistently high quality and outstandingly tasty product. I have many years of experience and skills in the dry-curing industry. I cure all the pork by hand and also play a key role in sales because I enjoy face-to-face contact with shoppers about the products.

“I’ve found too that shoppers like to see and chat with me about the products and gain advice on how best to cook them,” he continues.

“We are a small and nimble business able to respond effectively and swiftly to demands from shoppers which are changing steadily in all our markets especially against a background of the pandemic,” he adds.

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