The Isle of Man was represented by eight local businesses at the International Food & Drink Event (IFE) 2019.

Isle of Man Meats, Isle of Man Creamery, Laxey Flour, Berries, Foraging Vintners, Seven Kingdom Distillery, The Fynoderee Distillery, and Close Leece Farm all exhibited for the Isle of Man stand at IFE in London, which took place from Sunday to yesterday (Wednesday) this week.

The exhibitors used the event to showcase their high quality products and meet with international buyers, to help introduce their businesses to an estimated 27,000 attendees from 111 countries.

Speaking ahead of the event, Geoffrey Boot MHK, Minister for DEFA, said it was the first year that the Isle of Man had been represented at the International Food & Drink Event.

’It’s fantastic to see such a broad range of high quality local businesses willing to help us fly the island’s flag on an international stage,’ he said.

’The Government’s aim is to enable these businesses to utilise the audience available to them at this event. These businesses are at a point where they can move to the next stage and, by providing them with the platform to do this, we hope to generate new business for them, ultimately increasing the overall value of the sector on the Isle of Man in line with the DEFA Food Matters Strategy.’

MaryBeth Coll, director at Foraging Vintners, joined the Isle of Man stand at IFE.

She said she was ’delighted’ to be asked to attend.

’Having this joined up approach with government and the other exhibitors will allow us to showcase our products as well as the Isle of Man on another level, to a higher volume of key international buyers,’ she explained.

IFE brings together more food and drink buyers and suppliers than any other UK event.

It includes top retailers, food service buyers, wholesalers, distributors, importers, exporters and manufacturers.