As Scotland’s lamb sales approach peak season, the farming sector has noticed record volumes of Scotch lamb available on Scottish supermarket shelves.
The latest shelfwatch study, undertaken by NFU Scotland members and staff, found that Scotch Lamb was widely stocked across the majority of large supermarket chains.
The secret shoppers identified that all lamb being sold in the Lidl and Aldi stores surveyed was Scotch.
Importantly, they also noticed a huge improvement in the amount of Scotch Lamb on sale in Tesco compared with previous shelfwatch results.
Overall, out of 850 packs of lamb inspected on supermarket shelves, the encouraging news for Scottish sheep farmers is that less than three percent was found to be imported, with home produced lamb – labelled as either Scotch or British - accounting for over 97 percent of sales.
This marks positive progress and a real success for the dialogue between NFU Scotland and retailers aimed at increasing the amount of Scotch Lamb on Scottish shelves.
The Union has been encouraging all retailers to stock Scotch during peak season, but it is looking for those retailers who regularly import lamb at certain times of the year to extend the season for buying Scotch.
#LambLambWeek
On the back of this good news for Scottish sheep farmers, next week will see the start of #LoveLambWeek which will incorporate a range of activities around the country to celebrate Scotch Lamb PGI.
That will include events where NFU Scotland members will talk with shoppers about the quality of Scotch Lamb, with the aim of making lamb a more regular purchase amongst Scottish consumers.
Speaking after looking at the results NFU Scotland Livestock Committee Chairman Charlie Adam said: "Scottish shoppers want to buy tasty Scotch lamb and these results demonstrate the positive progress that is being made in making Scotch Lamb more widely available in Scottish supermarkets.
"Scotch Lamb continues to be exclusively available in Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl all year-round and that is welcome support for our farmers and crofters.
"However, the substantial increase in the amount of Scotch lamb available in the Tesco stores surveyed is noteworthy and reassuring as peak season approaches.
"While the majority of fresh lamb being sold in Asda and Waitrose in Scotland was produced in the UK, it was hard to find any which was labelled as Scotch.
"We would like to see more done by these supermarket chains to ensure Scotch Lamb is available and clearly labelled in Scottish stores.
"Overall, to find that 97 percent of the lamb in Scottish supermarket stores is home-produced, with the vast majority labelled as Scotch, is a fantastic boost to the Scottish sheep sector at the busiest time of the year.
"It provides a fantastic platform from which to encourage all retailers to build their commitment to Scotch," Mr Adam concluded.
