The 12 years of existence of the National Food Centre, a research facility run by Teagasc to inform development of food industry, has coincided with three great thrusts, according to its director Dr Vivion Tarrant.
The early 1990s were all about quality, he says. Within the Irish context, it was primarily a problem of lack of consistency and quality. Eating out one day meant having a superb piece of salmon, succulent Irish potatoes and crisp vegetables, but a week later it was often a different story.
Of necessity, food safety became the issue some years later. But indications that 70 per cent of Irish food companies now have some form of hazard management system - usually known as HACCP - is a sign of how the industry is getting its house in order. In reality, there was no choice, and HACCP (which concentrates on "critical control points") is in effect about to become mandatory under EU law. Moreover, the industry knows that one bad food poisoning outbreak could ruin a food company; not to mention cause widespread illness.
But Dr Tarrant is now highlighting the need for the same companies to fully embrace production of consumer foods with added value, also known as prepared foods. This has to be based on a drive towards "sensory quality"; notably excellent taste.
Some Irish retailers, particularly large supermarket groups, already have superb prepared meals on sale but they are usually "100 per cent imported". Marks & Spencer has been the trailblazers, "but at the end of the day, products of exquisite sensory quality are mostly coming from Northern Foods (which supplies the British retailer)", Dr Tarrant notes.
He does not mind if Northern Foods set the standards, but Irish manufacturers are going to have to learn to emulate them, especially if they are to benefit from recent Food Industry Development Group/Enterprise Ireland projections that prepared foods have potential to double output from £1.3 billion (€1.65 billion) to £2.6 billion (€3.3 billion) over the next six years. That is not forgetting the importance of the ingredients sector, even if the figures there are less spectacular - it is expected to increase from £300 million to £600 million within the same period.
Irish manufacturers are going to have to learn to emulate the makers of foods of exquisite (and consistent) sensory quality. And to become expert on this will require "advanced knowledge of consumer preference". Some 125 new food and non-alcoholic drinks products were launched every week in Britain last year. A very high failure rate resulted because, ultimately, their makers misread consumer reaction.
Dr Tarrant admits that Irish production of prepared foods has been growing rapidly with huge expectation of further imminent expansion but, significantly, at the top end of that market - that is on a par with say the Marks & Spencer range - there are few Irish products listed.
Not only are exquisite taste and other attractive sensory qualities essential but, for example, knowing what is going to work whether it is in Birmingham or London or Edinburgh. This requires very detailed consumer profiles embracing food attitudes and preferences. For the Irish food industry, this kind of information is simply not there at present, he said. The preferences have to be built into standards of sensory quality that will enable them to compete.
A valuable lesson in consumer preference is illustrated by Dr Cathal Cowan, head of the NFC's food marketing group. The centre's research shows that although women constitute up to 40 per cent of the Irish workforce outside the home, this has not translated into them buying more convenience foods, notwithstanding growth in consumer food sales. It has, however, translated into significant consumption of restaurant and takeaway foods. Women no longer perceive their main role as "family meal maker", he adds, but instead want time for work and leisure activities.
"Segmentation studies based on consumer lifestyle in all EU countries is an initial priority," Dr Cowan says. "Irish industry wants to know about consumers' attitudes to food, especially in EU markets, so that they can become more consumer-orientated in their marketing strategy."
The NFC aims to help moves to supply that highly demanding but lucrative market by focusing, for instance, on convenience food products, speciality cheeses, organic liquid milk and healthier meat products. The impact of animal welfare issues is also being studied as well as ways of improving distribution of Irish food exports.
