Innovation potential at Loughry Campus
Date published:
In National Pet Month, entrepreneur Garrett McCartney from Bran & Birdy’s Pet Food, Belfast paid a visit to the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural and Enterprise (CAFRE). The Food Technology Centre at Loughry Campus has a Co-Location License permitting the development of pet foods.
Bran & Birdy has recently been awarded a £5K Innovation Voucher from Invest NI. This will enable the business start-up to access technical support from a chosen Knowledge Centre. Hayley O’Neill, Food Technologist at CAFRE welcomed Mr McCartney to see around the facilities at Loughry Campus, where he will develop a new range of pet food products.
“With a growing pet food market and a desire to reduce food waste in Northern Ireland, CAFRE is here to help companies use their by-products or by products from other processes to manufacture pet foods and treats. Diverting high quality waste or surplus products has the potential to offer attractive alternatives whilst reducing food waste.” commented Mrs O’Neill.
Garrett attended an Invest NI Market Intelligence Clinic at CAFRE`s Loughry Campus to gain an insight into the pet food market. Following a tour of the Food Technology Centre which offers an extensive range of modern pilot and industrial scale processing equipment Garrett said: “Visiting Loughry Campus was transformative for Bran & Birdy. Seeing where our premium pet nutrition prototypes will be developed opened our minds to possibilities. Our connection with CAFRE will foster true collaboration and lay the foundation for redefining pet nutrition, combining quality with convenience.”
If you have any queries relating to pet food manufacture, gaining co-location status or pet food plant approvals, please contact Hayley O’Neill. Email: hayley.oneill@daera-ni.gov.uk
For more information on food industry programmes at CAFRE visit the Business Support area of the CAFRE website.
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