Black or white pudding may not be considered fancy food in Ireland, but it is in the US. Pudding appeared alongside Galtee's rashers and sausages, Barry's tea and Jacob's Cream Crackers at the recent 44th annual Fancy Food Fair in New York.

The fact that these traditional Irish products were even on display is testament to how Irish food in the US has taken off. Total sales of consumer food products out of Ireland to the US amount to about $35 million (£25 million) a year and sales to supermarkets have increased by more than 50 per cent in the last two years.

Today, 150 select supermarkets in the North East feature popular branded food products such as McCann's Irish oatmeal, Dublin Tea and Kerrygold cheeses.

"Success has come from the creation of international food aisles in select supermarket chains and a keener interest by US distributors to include Irish foods in their product ranges," said Philip McGauran, US representative for Bord Bia.

However, to maintain growth and expand sales to more retail outlets, he said: "Irish companies now need to adopt packaging to meet US labelling requirements and feature American UPC codes." European UPC bar codes have 12 digits while in the US there are only 10.

"We've been talking to a lot of manufacturers in Ireland about including nutritional information and UPC labels on the packaging to make it easier for everyone," said Finbarr James, marketing and sales manager of Irish Food Distributors.

For the past six years, he with his brother Sean and a staff of 15, have been distributing Irish products in the US.

They started off distributing meat for Irish breakfasts and then moved into groceries. "There's been a big increase in grocery and meat sales," he said. In fact that growth has been between 20 to 30 per cent a year for the past four years and is still growing. Old favourites include tea, Jaffa and Mikado biscuits and Fruitfield marmalade.

The company, which carries more than 500 products, distributes in the tri-state area of New England, Connecticut and New Jersey and has a mail order business to serve the whole country.

It is not just the emigrant Irish who are buying. Mr James has seen a marked increase for products from delicatessens in ethnic areas and large supermarket chains such as A&P, Waldbaums, Shoprite and Star Markets of Boston.

At the Fancy Food show, Irish Food Distributors introduced Erin Foods' Barrels of Goodness cup-of-soup. "There was a lot of interest. Our regular buyers were there and we'll see a few new accounts," Mr James said.

Food that was sumptuous to look at and even better to taste was put on display by 1,250 US and 800 international companies. Along with 29 country stands, Ireland had its banner which read "Ireland the Food Island". On the Ireland stand there were representatives from Dairygold, Irish Food Distributors and the Skelligs Chocolate Co. Elsewhere, scattered throughout the vast hall at the Jacob Javits Centre were other companies representing Irish food products including Bewley Irish Imports, DPI Skandia Foods and the Irish Dairy Board (Bord Bainne).

Amanda McGabhann, partner of the Skelligs Chocolate Co made her first appearance in New York and at the show. Her handmade liqueur truffles in wooden hand-painted boxes "had a fantastic response," she said.

William-Sonoma, which has 126 cookware/speciality stores throughout the US, has already sold her chocolates for $27 each through its mail order catalogue and retail operations.

What impressed Ms McGabhann was the quality of independent retailers, such as basket companies, wine stores, gourmet and specialty stores in the US, that wanted to sell her chocolates.

"There are so many wonderful ideas here that you're not exposed to until you see the US market," she said.

At the moment, the Skelligs Chocolate Co from Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry does not have a US distributor but that is something Ms McGabhann is working on.

The Irish Dairy Board displayed a range of Irish cheeses including Oak Smoked Blarney, vintage Irish cheddar and it launched Dubliner Irish Cheese. Kerrygold Irish cheeses, are served in restaurants, on cruises, on board the Amtrak Railroad, in hotels, supermarkets and even at Disneyworld.

One name that is probably familiar to most Americans is that of Bewleys, represented in the US since 1982. Jo Bewley, owner of Bewley Irish Imports, was on hand to promote connoisseur loose teas, Lakeshore mustard, brown soda bread mix and to launch Morley's Fine Food Preserves.

"I think there is greater sophistication and a greater interest in ethnic, speciality foods in the US now," she said. "There's also a greater interest in Irish foods beyond the Irish community because people are looking for good quality products." Her company has seen a steady increase in demand over the past five years, by about 5 to 10 per cent a year.

Although Dairygold USA, did not launch anything at the food fair it did promote its newest products Galtee Traditional Black & White Puddings made from pinhead oatmeal and Tipperary Irish Cheddar. Over the years, the company has moved from marketing meat to also include cheese and milk products.

Boston and New York, traditional homes to Irish emigrants, "have always been strong for us," said Claire O'Donovan, regional sales manager for Dairygold USA. California and Florida have now opened up due to the large Irish-American populations there. One success for the company has been the baskets of Irish breakfasts which can be ordered through Mitchelstown for people resident in the US.

Ms O'Donovan said: "Over here people are pretty familiar with nutritional facts," she said. "Our bacon is cut from the loin whereas US bacon is a fatty version of Irish streaky bacon. Ours has a third of the fat of US bacon and that's a good selling point for us."

Dairygold has had a presence at the New York Fancy Food Fair for the past five years. It also displays at other shows such as the Winter Fancy Food Fair in San Francisco and the Northeastern Perishable Products show in Boston. Next year, the first mid-western Fancy Food Fair will open in Chicago. Most of the shows, Ms O'Donovan says, bring "a lot of contacts and a lot of supermarket buyers."