The National Prepared Consumer Food Centre Strategy (2025-2030) was launched on Wednesday, 9th July, by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Noel Grealish TD. at Teagasc Ashtown, Dublin.
The National Prepared Consumer Food Centre aims to enhance the competitiveness of Ireland’s prepared consumer foods sector through technical support and research, contributing to sustained growth. Ireland’s prepared consumer food sector has made significant strides in recent years. This new strategy has been developed to continue growth and enhance the prepared consumer food sector.
Launching the strategy, Minister Noel Grealish TD said: “I’m delighted to launch this new strategy. The National Prepared Consumer Foods Centre (NPCFC) at Teagasc Ashtown is a dedicated innovation hub designed specifically to meet the needs of this sector.
“It was established in 2018 with funding from my Department and since then, my Department has allocated €10 million to the Centre.
“This initiative is fully aligned with Food Vision 2030 Ireland’s 10-year strategy for the Agri food sector and also our National Development Plan, Project Ireland 2040.”
Minister Grealish continued: “The work done by the National Prepared Consumer Foods Centre also supports food businesses to reformulate their products in line with the ambition of the Government’s Roadmap for Food Reformulation.”
Speaking from the launch, Teagasc Chairman, Liam Herlihy said: “The National Prepared Consumer Foods Centre is well established as a centre of excellence, helping companies across the country to pilot collaborative, industry-led innovation, access cutting-edge food research, and develop scalable, market-ready solutions.”
The role of the National Prepared Consumer Food Centre
Since opening in 2018 the Centre has completed over 520 projects with over 350 food companies providing technical support, training and access to services.
The NPCFC focusses on the following key supports for the food sector:
- Food Innovation and product development
- Nutritional analysis and quality
- Advanced processing technology
- Sensory analysis and quality
- Food safety and shelf life
The Centre provides state of the art pilot scale processing equipment and access to modern analytical and sensory laboratories to characterise foods in terms of nutritional, compositional, microbial and sensory profiles
The new strategy centres on six key objectives:
- Enhance the PCF sector through technical support
- Facilitate best in class equipment and technology
- Provide expert knowledge and support
- Provide access to state-of-the-art facilities
- Drive excellence through research
- Build relationship with key stakeholders including government, EU and International agencies.
Photo caption: Pictured at the launch from left to right are: Ciara McDonagh, Teagasc Ashtown; Professor Frank O’Mara, Teagasc Director; Noel Grealish TD, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Liam Herlihy, Teagasc Chairman; and Shay Hannon, Teagasc Ashtown.