IT'S a business worth millions of pounds to the North-East and one whose quality has long been acknowledged. Now, for the first time, efforts are under way to help the region's food industry achieve its true potential.

The Strategy for Regionally Produced Food and Drink in North-East England, commissioned by One NorthEast, aims to develop the market for local produce.

Published last month, the strategy said the region should build on the fact that 70 per cent of British consumers want to buy local food and 49 per cent want to buy more of it than they do at present.

The report, following a six-month study by ADAS, specialists in food and drink sector development, concluded that the region can benefit from marketing its food industry as a whole, including everyone from the producers of Craster kippers to major food processing and production operations like Walkers Crisps.

For Ian Brown, One NorthEast board member with responsibility for rural issues, the ideal would be a farmer or similar business producing food such as game, fish or beer and selling it to local catering businesses, hotel and pub chains or locally-based food processors and manufacturers.

Mr Brown says the approach was about keeping the investment within the region rather than seeing companies from other parts of the country making money from work which could be done within the North-East.

He said: "What this report aims to do is examine how we can better help consumers access their local market, raise awareness of what quality food is available in their region and improve uptake of local food by multiple retailers, the public sector and food service providers.

"A main area to overcome is one of critical mass where we've got many excellent, small-scale operators that can't always, on their own, make inroads with the major players such as the supermarkets, but collectively, they could.

"We are still behind other regions. The problem is a lot of the agricultural produce is produced in the region, but the added value goes on somewhere else. Take game: it is produced in the region but goes outside and is then, ironically, returned as products such as pate. We do not want the added value to go somewhere else."

Tasked with driving forward the revolution is the Regional Food Group, whose members are representatives of the food industry, and who will help develop public awareness of local produce on a regional basis.

The strategy envisages start-up grants and incubator sites for new food businesses, an increase in opportunities for the region's producers to supply fresh local produce to schools, hospitals and the hospitality sector, and expert advice via organisations such as Business Link.

Mr Brown, a Northumberland farmer, who also runs Newcastle food business Fresh Almond, says the idea of regional marketing was not to replace more local brands, but to be an umbrella for all the work being done.

One of the key elements is an accreditation system, which means food and drink could carry a badge indicating that it comes from the North-East.

Mr Brown said: "The brand will be a shorthand for quality produce, high standards and giving the customers what they want. The idea of a 'Made in North-East England' quality mark is an interesting one and would be a way to show provenance, as well as a recognised standard of hygiene, preparation, ingredients and so on.

"This is very important for giving consumers confidence, but as this report shows, it can also be a brand that retailers can buy into.

"We have seen that small businesses can grow very quickly. The food strategy is shining a light on opportunity and it is long overdue.

"We have to raise awareness. I know a major North-East hotel that published a Christmas menu with eight pages of dishes of which just two were local food. The idea is that hotels, restaurants and pubs can be linked into what we are doing. The trouble is for many of them it is easier to go to a food wholesaler on a trading estate."

He says that smaller food producers in the region also had a responsibility to raise awareness of local produce by persuading outlets to stock their food.

Mr Brown says producers needed to be inventive, citing the example of Craster kippers, which are now sold on mainline trains running through the region, promoting not just producer Robsons, from the Northumberland coastal village, but also the North-East.

He says that the food industry was also important for attracting tourists and dovetailed with the One NorthEast's Passionate People, Passionate Places campaign, providing a reason for people to visit.

"You might have someone coming to the region for a conference, enjoying the area and the food and saying 'I will come back here with my wife and my children'," said Mr Brown.

One of the key organisations helping to promote high-quality North-East food is Northumbria Larder, set up five years ago, whose members include food producers across the region, ranging from dairy farmers to sausage makers.

Sandy Duncan, its general manager, said: "One of our most important achievements is the solid base of support from our members, other food and drink producers in the North-East, stakeholders and agencies.

"Customers delight in enjoying the events that Northumbria Larder support across the North-East, within the UK and abroad.

"We are passionately committed and engaged in supporting the One NorthEast Regional Food and Drink Strategy. We are keen to play our part in its ongoing development, working together with other organisations within the region and nationally."

Steve Ramshaw is one of the producers backing the regional strategy. A farmer near Newcastle, he runs a successful organic business, producing food, including red meat and flavoured pies, which use local ingredients. He was recently voted the North-East's Food Hero in a competition run by the UK TV Food website and has taken over red meat supply at the Fenwicks store, in Newcastle.

Mr Ramshaw said: "The strategy has recognised that food is part of the culture of the North-East and that the produce here is special.

"What we have been saying to hotels and restaurants for a number of years is that you can serve things like local meat and local pies, served with local beers. It is about promoting local produce and people have an increasing interest in the provenance of food. They want to know where it came from."