Bord Bia’s Bernadette Byrne has been awarded a prestigious honour by the l’Académie Culinaire de France for her work promoting Irish beef.

French consumers and food industry buyers are increasingly interested in quality Irish produce, say key exhibitors attending the Sial food fair in Paris.

BORD BIA has launched a promotional campaign to more than treble its beef exports into Germany by 2015, a drive to capitalise on a doubling of sales there last year.

EXPORTS of premium quality Irish beef have surpassed targets set three years ago thanks to the elite Chefs’ Irish Beef Club, according to the latest Bord Bia analysis.