As of 1st April 2015 it came into legislation that all fresh poultry products must state on pack , where the meat was Reared in and Slaughtered in.
If a company / brand uses the term Origin on pack or for e.g. describes the product as “Fresh Irish Chicken….etc.” you can only use this term if the animal was Born, Reared and Slaughtered in that one country.
As many of you are aware, up until 2012 we reared turkeys on our farm all year round, and therefore had fresh turkey on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, this became infeasible for the company and farm to continue to do so. A tough decision was taken to cut down on rearing and only rear seasonally e.g. Easter/ Thanksgiving and Christmas , when Irish reared turkey is in demand by Irish customers willing to pay the premium price for it. For the rest of the months, we import fresh turkey from our partner farms in Germany and Italy, Our key staff then debone, cut down and further process this meat into added value products you see on shelves such as mince, steaks and diced turkey breast.
When this meat is used , in accordance to the legislation we declare on pack the Meat Origin as either Germany or Italy and also include the description Processed and packed in Ireland. We feel that it is important to include this statement so that people understand that although the raw material (meat) may come from another country that the product itself is made in our production plant in Kells. Supporting Irish jobs and family business. That when your purchase this product, you still have the confidence that whether the product is in or out of season that you are still getting the same quality product you should expect from Hogan’s Farm.
When we have our own Irish reared turkeys available , we also mark this with the Love Irish Food symbol so that it is clear to the customer that this product is Irish raw material. Hogan’s Farm fresh turkey products are available under our retail Hogan’s Farm red logo and the complete range of products are available in Dunnes Stores nationwide, and also in select Spar, Eurospar and Londis stores.
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