Discerning French consumers have chosen Quality Standard Mark lamb from Great Britain as the “best product of the year”.
The competition, organised by the Dutch market research agency Q&A, saw the vacuum-packed cannon come out on top.
Manufacturers and distributors enter their products in an online competition and, encouraged by promotional campaigns, consumers are invited to evaluate them against each other.
The winning product is the one that scores highest for value for money, presentation, satisfaction rating, likelihood of repeat purchase and recommendation.
For the 2016-2017 campaign, awards were available in 18 product families, with the Quality Standard Mark lamb cannon taking the prize in the butchery category.
AHDB export manager for France Remi Fourrier said there is "delight" that French consumers have voted for this Quality Standard Mark product from Great Britain in such a resounding way.
"This type of public endorsement for British meat is unprecedented in France but it reflects an awful lot of hard work which is done each day behind the scenes by AHDB in both France and the UK," Mr Fourrier said.
"The winning product is innovative, fits into the modern lifestyle but, most importantly, is tender and tasty."
The Quality Standard Mark lamb cannon packaged in a skin pack benefits from minimising waste, being ready to cook and having a longer use-by date.
The new type of packaging acts as a “second skin” for fresh meat, offering numerous advantages to the consumer, including reassurance that the meat is tender and tasty and that the pieces of meat are well aged in a sealed environment.
In 2015, 45,000 consumers participated in this study in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, though this is the first time it has been run in France.
The product is part of a range of QSM British beef and lamb products branded “Quart de Coeur” and processed by MVS in Douai, in the north of France.
