Food and Drink

A Recipe for Success

If you've ever sampled the superb, freshly caught seafood served up by one of our world-class chefs, relaxed over a delicious locally produced steak at one of our famous beach restaurants, or washed down a hand-made pasty with a pint of traditionally made Cornish Ale, then you won't need much persuading of the quality of Cornish fare.

But you might still be surprised at just how far the county's food & drink sector has developed in recent years.

Cornwall's £1.5 Billion Food Industry

Latest estimates put the annual turnover of Cornwall's food & drink industry at £1.5 billion. There are plenty of reasons why it's thriving:

· Cornwall's farmers are ideally placed to meet surging demand for food produced to the highest environmental and animal welfare standards. Over 130 organic farmers now operate here, offering dairy produce, meat and a range of fruit and vegetables.

· The county is home to one of Europe's biggest and most modern cheese creameries, and Cornish Clotted Cream has EU Protected Designation of Origin.

· New chilling, packing and distribution facilities are making a wider range of fresh local products available to national and international markets.

· The county's mild climate enables its farmers to meet growing demand for out-of-season vegetables, building on effective partnerships between growers, processors, marketing companies and the supermarket majors.

· Demand for seafood has never been higher, and Cornwall's fishing industry has moved to meet it through innovative initiatives such as the National Lobster Hatchery at Padstow.

· Cornwall's retail and hospitality sector has seen strong growth in the past few years. It is now the third-largest sector of the Cornish food economy.

· Cornwall Agricultural Council aims to transform Cornwall into the UK's exemplar agri-food centre of excellence. This is backed by the creation of a Food Innovation Service at Duchy College.

A Powerful Endorsement of Cornish Produce

While many of the firms in this sector are small and medium-sized enterprises, several global players have made major investments in the county including Allied Frozen Foods and Dairy Crest. The quality of the food and drink industry in Cornwall has also drawn in national names such as restaurateurs Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver. As well as helping build a new industry in gastro-tourism, they also have made a clear commitment to using Cornish ingredients - as has the local authority and local NHS.

There are also a number of Cornish producers who lead the way in terms of innovation within the food and drink sector. These include The Cornish Cheese Company which is the UK's only producer of soft blue cheese; Cornish Sea Salt Co - the UK's first sea salt producer to harvest direct from the ocean and Deli Farm Charcuterie - one of only two UK companies specialising in air dried meat products.

Processing and Packaging

To make the most of its produce, Cornwall has an established network of food processing plants, specialising in different areas - though with production growing, there is clear scope for more. Eleven abattoirs serve the meat industry, fish processing is centred on Newlyn and companies such as Proper Cornish Foods, Tamar Food, Cornish Orchards, Trewithen Farm Dairy, Riveria Product, Callestick Ice Cream and Ginsters operate large and scale processing and packaging operations. The latter also runs one of the UK's premier independent food testing laboratories at its Callington site.