Five Galway operators were among 136 Irish food and drink companies recognised by Bord Bia with Origin Green Gold Membership for their sustainability performance in 2025.

Galway’s five Origin Green Gold recipients were Connemara Distillers T/A Micil Distillery; Connemara Organic Seaweeds; Builín Blasta in An Spidéal, and Divilly’s and Sean Loughnane butchers in Galway city.

Gold Membership is awarded to Origin Green verified companies if they make significant improvements in their sustainability target areas.  Target areas can include raw material sourcing, water and energy efficiency, emissions, waste reductions, packaging, and social sustainability.

The Gold Members were formally acknowledged at Bord Bia’s annual Origin Green Sustainability Seminar on Tuesday, which was addressed by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Galway West TD Noel Grealish.

Just over three-quarters of the overall Gold Member companies are small or medium-sized enterprises, while one quarter are large firms. This year, 17% of the companies were first time recipients of Gold Membership.

Martin Hofler, Senior Sustainability Manager, Origin Green at Bord Bia, said that, each year, Origin Green raised the threshold to meet Gold Membership status in order to help drive continuous change and improvement across the Irish food sector.

Pictured: Leigh Carr of Loughnane’s of Galway, with his Origin Green Gold Membership.

“The record 136 companies awarded Gold Membership this year underscores the huge desire of the Irish food and drink sector to future-proof their business as they continue to increase their sustainability actions,” he said.

Bord Bia CEO Jim O’Toole said that the record number of companies achieving Gold Membership ‘shows their strongly-held commitment to setting and meeting key sustainability targets’.

“It is also important to remember that these efforts are not just about meeting targets, they are about creating real value; value for customers, value for employees and value for suppliers,” he said.

“Because sustainability is no longer a peripheral concern, it is a central driver of business resilience, innovation, and long-term success. Sustainability is non-negotiable, it should be embedded into the DNA of every Irish food and drink business.”

Pictured: Peter Divilly of Divilly’s Ltd, with his Origin Green Gold Membership.