Specially Selected Pork (SSP), Scotland’s quality assurance brand, will be the main sponsor of this year’s Taste of Grampian event, which is expected to draw at least 12,000 visitors when it takes place in the summer.
Due to be held at Thainstone Agricultural Centre, Inverurie, on June 4, the event is seen as being ideally located to promote Scotland’s pig industry.
“The north-east of Scotland is where the majority of Scottish pig farming takes place and home to over 60% of the Scottish sow herd,” said Taste of Grampian chairman, John Gregor, adding that pig production is worth around £40 – £50 million annually to the north-east economy.
Aberdeenshire pig farmer and Quality Meat Scotland board member, Philip Sleigh, said that Taste of Grampian’s strong partnership with SSP comes at a “pivotal time for the Scottish pig industry which is set to benefit from a major investment in pig processing capacity at the Brechin site, run by Quality Pork”.
“Our pig farmers take great pride in the excellent job they do to produce quality pork which is tasty, healthy, versatile and also great value for money and Taste of Grampian will provide a fabulous platform to remind consumers of this,” he added.
The sponsorship launch this week also allowed BBC Masterchef finalist, Brian McLeish, chef proprietor of Moonfish Restaurant in Aberdeen, to deliver a strong “locally produced pork” message.
“Serving top quality local produce is vital to ensure our customers get a fantastic eating experience and SSP is a great example of a meat which is truly Scottish and a brand consumers can trust,” said Mr McLeish.
Headline image shows John Gregor (left), Brian McLeish (centre) and Philip Sleigh
