Scottish supermarkets have been criticised for not supporting local sheep farmers by sourcing vast quantities of imported lamb.
Research for NFU Scotland found that despite previous commitments by some supermarkets, many had chosen to import huge volumes of New Zealand and Australian lamb, despite high availability of Scottish stock.
Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Marks and Spencer were among the retailers to face criticism over their commitments to support Scottish lamb.
NFU Scotland said that despite a commitment by M&S to source 100% Scottish lamb for its Scottish stores this season, some secret shoppers found the retailer had almost 50% of imported lamb on its shelves. M&S has since pledged to return to 100% Scottish lamb in all Scottish stores.
“It’s frankly a slap in the face to many of us that supermarkets have failed to show strong support to Scotland’s sheep farmers and their families over the Easter period – a time of year when consumers seek out our high-quality produce,” said NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick.
“We continue to urge Tesco and Asda to extend their season for buying home produced lamb in a bid to boost sales of Scottish. And we will be asking questions of Morrisons, Marks and Spencer and Lidl, who have failed to maintain their previous good record on domestic sourcing this year.”
Aldi was commended for being the sole retailer found to be selling exclusively Scottish and UK lamb over the Easter period.
