Country Valley Foods - a business that gets to the meat of the matter

IN his crisp white protective overalls, Edward Munro lists the vast range of meat available at Country Valley Foods.

This is certainly no fast food factory.

Around 20 people are on hand preparing the finest quality meat. Some are on the pigs, some on lamb, some poultry, and some are making sausages and burgers.

One lucky chap even has the job of preparing the traditional Teesside parmo.

“They have grown so quickly”said Mr Munro.

Previously, parmos were just seen as a takeaway food but we have seen the use of them grow in restaurants phenomenally quickly”.

A special machine is used to flatten the chicken, before it is coated in breadcrumbs and packaged away to be sent off.

“We prepare it in a way so restaurants can flame fry it straight away.”

The company began as Teesside Frozen Foods in 1971. After buying a new site in Darlington, the name had to be changed as it was no longer solely based in Teesside, and hence Country Valley Foods was born.

A mix of the old and the new in evident in the cutting hall at Country Valley.

One butcher is sharpening his knife, showing there is still no hi -tech way of carving the best cut of meat, whilst other workers operate the touch screen systems that process orders and track where the products are going.

Another two ladies are using the sausage machine, having already made and packaged the burgers for the day.

Mr Munro explained why Country Valley use crushed ice in their sausages rather than just water.

“It is important to keep the temperature of the sausage as low as possible – it creates a better product.”

The company also uses a machine which replicates a sieve to remove any bone and cartilage found in the sausage meat.

“The sausage machine cost around £60,000 and the ice machine cost around £25,000. It is expensive machinery but it helps to make a better quality sausage.”

Country Valley Foods has been providing fresh meat to the catering industry for more than 40 years.

The company began life as a small poultry wholesaler, but has since grown to a large catering butcher and wholesaler food company delivering to hundreds of restaurants, hotels, food producers and retail butchers across the North of England.

Country Valley Food’s Billingham factory could be classed as paradise for meat lovers. On an average day, they will deal with around 30 pigs and 20 lambs.

That, along with their poultry range, equates to around 27 tonnes of meat a day.

But there is one time of year when the volume of meat reaches “incredible” amounts.

“Christmas is insane. We make a whole week’s turnover in a single day. We have to bring in extra staff and vehicles to cope with the demand.

“We buy as locally as we can. There are some great pastures round here – It would be silly not to use them.”

In 2007, Country Valley acquired retail butcher Newboulds, which was established in 1856 with eight branches across the Tees Valley.

Four years later, Country Valley launched CV Refrigeration, offering commercial refrigeration and air conditioning products.

After seeing the rather pleasant site of the cutting hall, Mr Munro shows us through to the hanging room. With freshly culled animals hanging above a blood splattered floor, it is easy to see why so many are tempted to become vegetarians.

But there is soon a reminder why as a country we enjoy meat on such a vast scale.

The dry aging room is where the freshly cut animal flesh is turned into a delicacy that is loved by so many.

Mr Munro explains Country Valley use ultra violet light to kill any bacteria in the air and the room is set to a specific temperature to help cure the meat.

“Usually the meat is left for 28 to 36 days. I always recommend leaving it longer, but we always cater for specific needs of our customers. Underneath the crust, there is always red beautiful fresh meat.

“One person has cooked the meat after 300 days, but I’ve never tried it.”

As part of the process, the company uses Himalayan salt bricks to help cure the meat. The bricks are 150 million years old and mined is Pakistan, and are used to help draw the moisture out of the meat.

Country Valley employ 170 people, with the majority of them based at the company’s Billingham site, which has recently seen a £2.35m redevelopment.

The company started selling frozen foods – particularly carrots and peas – to Hintons, and was soon winning contracts with other firms.

“When fresh poultry started becoming a big thing in the UK, we decided to move to Darlington. We added a small cutting room, and it just snowballed from there.”

Their site now has space for 530 pallets of frozen food and 360 pallets of chilled food.

And Country Valley are showing no signs of scaling back on their ambitious plans.

The company has recently turned one of its old office buildings into a high end cookware, tableware and gift shop.

Inspired by the boom in popularity of programmes such as The Great British Bake Off and Masterchef, the shop, Chef and Baker, sells restaurant quality kitchen and dining equipment for customers to use in their own home.

Among the products for sale include professional chef knives for use in a home kitchen.

But these aren’t just any old sharp knives. One in particular is handmade in Japan and consists of more than 64 layers of steel.

There are also more family friendly products for sale including baking sets and wine glasses – which are used in Yarm’s Muse restaurant.

“We have so much going on at the moment and huge plans for the future.

“We are investing in new equipment and streamlining our production – all of which will help grow the business.

“We are hoping to get British Retail Consortium (BRC) accreditation in six months which is the highest accolade we can have. That will help us with future contracts.”

Mr Munro said the implications on the exchange rate, rather than the Brexit vote itself, has had an effect on the business.

“We trade in Euros, so going out has been great, but coming back not so good.

“Brexit hasn’t impacted us so far, but the future is more uncertain. We don’t know what the trade agreement is going to be, but it hasn’t affected us significantly so far.

“Generally, it is how the economy is performing that matters to us more. If people have more money, they spend it. If they don’t, it gets pulled from the economy.

“We are always looking to employ new people - we do a lot of work with the local job centre.”

“We need staff in production, cutting, sales – everywhere. We are looking to grow in every way.

“We are a family business so I have done a bit of everything. I started in fridges, then I was loading the vehicles, and worked my way up that way.”

Country Valley Foods certainly do a bit of everything, and there’s a high possibility Sunday roasts all over the region began life in their factory.