Goods which might not be as Irish as the brand/label suggests - noticed any?

Quatre Mains

Hi all

Like a lot of others, I try to buy Irish goods aas often as I can so long as price and quality are comparable, with the intention of supporting Irish jobs. However, I'm finding out that this is not as straightforward as it seems, as a number of irish brandnames have been bought out by multinationals, who produce the goods abroad and label them under the familiar brandname.
A well-known example of this would be Jacobs biscuits, which aren't made here. But I'm curious as to how widespread this phenomenom is. For example, I discovered last year that Lyons tea is a Tetley-owned brandname now, and is packed in the UK.
I realise that times move on etc, I've not got a problem with the use of the brand names per se. BUT I do want to know which brands are manufactured abroad in case I'm overlooking genuine Irish-produced fare. So I'd like to hear from anyone with a good knowledge fo the food industry about other instances of this. I think the Valeo-owned brands would be a good place to start, they've bougth up a lot fo the more well-known domestic brand names. Thanks!


Slightly -related gripe;
I also bought some "Irish Chicken Fillets" using Tesco online only to find that they were farmed in Northern Ireland, which I felt misled about. The product is labelled as Irish but the stamp denoting origin says UK. Wont be doing that again.

TheDriver

I notice too that places like Supervalu always have the "value of irish products" on the receipt incorrect. I personally take "Irish" meat to mean republic of Ireland i.e. under the control of the Dept Ag here, likewise prime UK beef is anything from the UK. Maybe I was assuming wrong....

keithclancy

Johnnycabs wrote: »

Hi all

Like a lot of others, I try to buy Irish goods aas often as I can so long as price and quality are comparable, with the intention of supporting Irish jobs. However, I'm finding out that this is not as straightforward as it seems, as a number of irish brandnames have been bought out by multinationals, who produce the goods abroad and label them under the familiar brandname.
A well-known example of this would be Jacobs biscuits, which aren't made here. But I'm curious as to how widespread this phenomenom is. For example, I discovered last year that Lyons tea is a Tetley-owned brandname now, and is packed in the UK.

AFAIK I believe the Tea comes from India and Northern Africa anyway

I've never seen a Tea Plantation in Ireland

Although there's one up in Co.Down ... if that counts :P
http://www.justaboutfood.net/2013/03/06/northern-irelands-tea-plantation/

coylemj

Tesco very cleverly exploit and expose the hypocrisy behind our supposed republicanism. We claim we aspire to a united Ireland and consider the folk in Derry to be as Irish as the folk in Donegal but when buying 'Irish' goods we only want stuff produced in the 26 counties. I think Tesco's 'Irish' bottled water is also from NI.

Irish Distillers (Paddy, Jameson, Cork Gin etc.) is owned by Pernod Ricard, a French conglomerate. Guinness, Bushmill's whiskey and Baileys Irish Cream are part of the Diageo empire and HB ice cream is owned by Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch food giant. The majority of brands are owned by multinationals, it's a fact of life.

But it doesn't mean that everything we buy under the banner of a multinational is imported. For example Cadburys in Coolock produces gazillions of the same chocolate bar (used to be Lion Bar) every year so most of what they produce is exported and that balances the Cadbury brands we import. Similarly, the Proctor & Gamble factory in Tipperary I think manufactures Ariel washing power, most of which is exported.

jack presley

A lot of Dunnes Stores own brand stuff says Irish this and Irish that on it but then it says EU/UK at the bottom so it obviously comes from the North.

There's a milk crowd, Bainne Ur which even goes as far as to have a 'Guaranteed Irish' logo but look closely and it has the EU/UK mark as well. I know there's cross border co-operation in a lot of things but I didn't realise companies from the north could qualify.

Davy

jack presley wrote: »

A lot of Dunnes Stores own brand stuff says Irish this and Irish that on it but then it says EU/UK at the bottom so it obviously comes from the North.

There's a milk crowd, Bainne Ur which even goes as far as to have a 'Guaranteed Irish' logo but look closely and it has the EU/UK mark as well. I know there's cross border co-operation in a lot of things but I didn't realise companies from the north could qualify.

Milk could be from ROI but bottled/packaged in NI so can lead to this..

charlemont

I also bought some "Irish Chicken Fillets" using Tesco online only to find that they were farmed in Northern Ireland, which I felt misled about. The product is labelled as Irish but the stamp denoting origin says UK. Wont be doing that again.
__________________

That's fairly pathetic..

goz83

Barack Obama

athtrasna

coylemj wrote: »

But it doesn't mean that everything we buy under the banner of a multinational is imported. For example Cadburys in Coolock produces gazillions of the same chocolate bar (used to be Lion Bar) every year so most of what they produce is exported and that balances the Cadbury brands we import.

Lion Bar is Nestlé? I believe the big Irish made Cadbury bar was the Time Out, it's launch saved the chocolate crumb factory in Rathmore in Kerry.

The key to Cadbury is buying the bars with the Green "Love Irish Food" logo, these 4 bars (Dairy Milk, Flake, Twirl & Time Out) are manufactured in Ireland with chocolate crumb made with Irish milk. They taste vastly different from the same bars produced in the UK. I am told it has to do with what the cattle are fed (most of ours are free roaming grass fed) as it makes the milk much more creamy. I find the UK versions to be almost nutty.

http://www.loveirishfood.ie/

ardmacha

Things made in Ireland are entitled to be described as such, if people want 26 county products then they should aim for a 26 county labelling.

wmpdd3

Cully and Scully is made in the UK, only found out from the rep a while ago. To be fair the current tubs of soup do not imply it is Irish.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

goz83 wrote: »

Barack Obama

Tom Cruise

P. Breathnach

Donegal Catch.

Bicycle

Newbridge Silver Christmas decorations.

I bought some to send abroad a few years ago and discovered that they were made abroad :mad:

coylemj

Swiss Roll, Dundee cake.......you just can't believe anything you read on food labelling these days.

Even Gateaux cakes aren't made in Ireland any more.

brightspark

I think Erin Soup is manufactured in the UK,

However the sauces are made by Batchelors in Dublin.

coylemj

There was a crowd a while back selling 'Irish Breakfast' food to mail order customers in the US, the labelling was all Gaelic script with liberal use of shamrocks and other Irish imagery. Then there was a crisis with pig feed that was contaminated and pretty much every country in the world temporarily banned the import of Irish pork & bacon products.

Lo and behold the company selling the 'Irish' breakfast products then had to come clean to save their business and were forced to admit that in fact none of their products were sourced in Ireland!

dilallio

During the pork scandal a few years ago, I spotted a package of sausages labelled "Irish Pork Sausages" with a temporarary sticker underneath which read 'Sourced from non-Irish pork'

Of course once they are packed or processed in Ireland, they can be labelled Irish.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Imagine if everybody abroad also only wanted goods made in their countries! Then we wouldn't have the one positive thing in our economy at present - a positive trade balance.

Peregrinus

TheDriver wrote: »

I notice too that places like Supervalu always have the "value of irish products" on the receipt incorrect. I personally take "Irish" meat to mean republic of Ireland i.e. under the control of the Dept Ag here, likewise prime UK beef is anything from the UK. Maybe I was assuming wrong....

Yes, you were assuming wrong. Northern Ireland is in Ireland. There's a bit of a clue in the name.

niallam

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Donegal Catch.

All fish in lidl except mackerel. All "produced" in Ireland not "product" of Ireland. Small subtle difference but enough to fool people to think its Irish because of their brand name.

ANXIOUS

Kerry gold garlic bread is made on Germany.

schnitzelEater

coylemj wrote: »

For example Cadburys in Coolock produces gazillions of the same chocolate bar (used to be Lion Bar) every year so most of what they produce is exported and that balances the Cadbury brands we import.

I doubt it is the Lion Bar. Perhaps Moro?

Norwesterner

I've an "Ireland calender" complete with images of the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, thatched cottages etc.
Just noticed on the back that it was printed in Korea.
Crisis? What crisis?

Hurley sticks are also made from wood imported from Poland, Lithuania etc as we have less forestry and woodland than Tunisia or Israel.

Most of the more recent Celtic crosses in our graveyards are cut from granite imported from China, as it's cheaper to import it from thousands of miles away, than buy from irish quarries.

ThisRegard

Not sure why people are surprised by all these 'revelations'. This type of thing has been done for years and the likes of Jacobs left Ireland a long time ago.

A cursory glance of the business sections of de papers can inform you of where your food is/will be manufactured almost better than the labelling itself.

Peregrinus

Goods are considered to be "produce of" a particular country according to how much of the added value in the retail price is added in that country. The more highly processed the goods are, the less the raw materials contribute to to the total added value, so manufactured, processed goods usually get labelled as produce of the country where the manufacturing/processing is done.

So if you have, say, smoked fish which is labelled "produce of Ireland", what that may tell you is that some or all of the cleaning/trimming/smoking/packaging was done in Ireland. It doesn't necessarily mean that the fish were farmed or caught in Irish waters. Conversely if you farm your fish in Ireland but they are sent abroad for processing and most of the added value comes from the processing, you cannot label the end product as "produce of Ireland".

keithclancy

ANXIOUS wrote: »

Kerry gold garlic bread is made on Germany.

Its great .. I can buy Kerrygold in the supermarkets here without being raped by Expat shops

Although I remember I went back to Ireland and bought a load of Rashers/Sausage/Black pudding (I live in NL)

Only to get home and find the Irish Rashers were 'Product of the Netherlands' ..

rainbowdash

We live in a globalised world, buying irish is not what it was in the 1980's when the stuff was really made in Ireland.

My favourite example is the platter of chopped fruit in Dunnes, consisting of melon, pineapple and grapes.

It has a lovely "love Irish food" logo on it.

Really, how stupid are people to believe that the pineapple, grapes or melon was grown in Ireland??

Its a fact that battery farmed chicken wings from Thailand can be rubbed in a BBQ marinade, placed in a plastic carton and labelled as being Irish.

athtrasna

schnitzelEater wrote: »

I doubt it is the Lion Bar. Perhaps Moro?

No, it was Time Out. Only Dairy Milk, Flake, Twirl and Time Out are made in Ireland (and in UK). The rest of the Cadbury range are manufactured in the UK only.

Tow

Kerrygold Butter is sold in the USA as "Pure Irish Butter", yet it is packaged in France.

Quatre Mains

thanks for all your replies

intersting to note which MNC's actually manufacture stuff here, will defo influence my purchases


@Charlemont why is that pathetic on my part if I wont buy stuff labelled as Irish if it has a UK stamp of origin? I can only assume you think this is anti-nordie bias on my part, which is not the case. Let me clarify and you can then tell me if you still feel the same.
Poultry processors such as Moy Park are running on tight margins (if you remember, they were about to close a year or two back) and support Irish jobs. The on the other side you have Tesco selling "Irish" chicken fillets, which are farmed in a jurisdiction with a far lower min. wage than here.
If the price on the two items is comparable, then you can use your discretion to purchase based on other criteria. For me, I would then spend on the homegrown product.
Tesco know damn well that by slapping "Irish" on the top a lot of people wont look any further, and that's a deliberate marketing trick. Of course, I can only speculate when I say this, but I'd guerss that if you labelled those fillets as "Ulster chicken fillets" they wouldnt sell half as many.

slimjimmc

Johnnycabs wrote: »

thanks for all your replies

intersting to note which MNC's actually manufacture stuff here, will defo influence my purchases


@Charlemont why is that pathetic on my part if I wont buy stuff labelled as Irish if it has a UK stamp of origin? I can only assume you think this is anti-nordie bias on my part, which is not the case. Let me clarify and you can then tell me if you still feel the same.
Poultry processors such as Moy Park are running on tight margins (if you remember, they were about to close a year or two back) and support Irish jobs. The on the other side you have Tesco selling "Irish" chicken fillets, which are farmed in a jurisdiction with a far lower min. wage than here.
If the price on the two items is comparable, then you can use your discretion to purchase based on other criteria. For me, I would then spend on the homegrown product.
Tesco know damn well that by slapping "Irish" on the top a lot of people wont look any further, and that's a deliberate marketing trick. Of course, I can only speculate when I say this, but I'd guerss that if you labelled those fillets as "Ulster chicken fillets" they wouldnt sell half as many.

Err, Moy Park are based in NI, no plants on this side of the border. I wouldn't be one bit surprised if you find a Moy Park plant code on those Tesco's "Irish" chicken fillets.

athtrasna

http://www.loveirishfood.ie/about-us/

The Love Irish Food logo is aimed to let shoppers know that a brand is truly an Irish brand which adheres to the strict criteria of the Love Irish Food organisation, by guaranteeing that the product is manufactured in the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND and importantly that the brand uses ingredients from Ireland where these are available.

Not all Food and Drink brands are eligible to join Love Irish Food. When you see this Love Irish Food Logo on a product you know that it is:

Made in the Republic of Ireland using Local ingredients where they are available.
Take your chocolate bar for example. Now, the cocoa can’t be grown in Cavan, but the milk used can certainly come from cows in Kerry! So look out for the new Love Irish Food logo on your next trip to the shops and buy Irish!

Cliona99

Boyne Valley Honey. Made of a blend of "EC and non-EC" honeys. Tricksters.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Cliona99 wrote: »

Boyne Valley Honey. Made of a blend of "EC and non-EC" honeys. Tricksters.

Yes but, as with many products, they blend and package it here - providing many jobs in Drogheda and elsewhere.

ThisRegard

Johnnycabs wrote: »

Tesco know damn well that by slapping "Irish" on the top a lot of people wont look any further, and that's a deliberate marketing trick.

It's not Tesco, although it's the thing around here to blame them for all the ills in the world, you want to be whinging about, it's the EU.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

ThisRegard wrote: »

It's not Tesco, although it's the thing around here to blame them for all the ills in the world, you want to be whinging about, it's the EU.

Agreed. And let's be honest, most people don't give a toss where the goods are from. I did a straw poll here yesterday and 70% of people never even look to see where their food is produced. They either bought because of price or that they just preferred the product.

Many items now just state "produced in EU" - may not be Irish, may be Irish!

Quatre Mains

slimjimmc wrote: »

Err, Moy Park are based in NI, no plants on this side of the border. I wouldn't be one bit surprised if you find a Moy Park plant code on those Tesco's "Irish" chicken fillets.

I am a dope - got them mixed up with Cappoquin Chicken.

I'm not anti-tesco - I do my shopping with them - and I know they are a big client for some irish meat producers like Rathdowney meats for example... but they do play on the "irish brands" thing.

If most people don't care where stuff comes from thats their decision I guess, but I would be surprised if thats the case.

pleasant Co.

Johnnycabs wrote: »

I am a dope - got them mixed up with Cappoquin Chicken.

I'm not anti-tesco - I do my shopping with them - and I know they are a big client for some irish meat producers like Rathdowney meats for example... but they do play on the "irish brands" thing.

If most people don't care where stuff comes from thats their decision I guess, but I would be surprised if thats the case.

Only as much as Dunnes, Supervalu and I assume the others do too.

coylemj

This little country of ours is a net food exporter so let's not play up too much on the 'only buy local' line. If the British consumer adopted that attitude when it came to beef or the German housewife switched from Kerrygold to Danish butter, we'd be in even worse shape than we're in.

brightspark

coylemj wrote: »

This little country of ours is a net food exporter so let's not play up too much on the 'only buy local' line. If the British consumer adopted that attitude when it came to beef or the German housewife switched from Kerrygold to Danish butter, we'd be in even worse shape than we're in.

I think that it's more an issue of confusion, deliberate or otherwise, where people think they are making a choice to buy Irish but in reality aren't.

Nobody is suggesting that only Irish goods be purchased (would be difficult if not impossible to only buy Irish these days)

When you buy Champagne you know it can only be French.

Why shouldn't we know what products are manufactured here?