Representatives from the UFU Beef and Lamb and Hill Farming committees have met with Environmental Health Officers and the Food Standards Agency to highlight concerns about the mislabelling of red meat.
In April this year new European legislation on country of origin labelling for lamb was introduced meaning that all packaging of fresh lamb had to be labelled with the country where the lamb was reared and slaughtered.
Over the course of the summer UFU members identified a number of examples where lamb found in major retailers was labelled ‘Produced in the UK from New Zealand and Australia.’
This was reported to the authorities and action was taken against those responsible for packaging this lamb.
At the meeting this week, the UFU highlighted to the Food Standards Agency and Environmental Health that we view this as a very serious issue for farmers who already comply with strict requirements around traceability and food safety.
The authorities have been urged to monitor this issue carefully and take firm action against those who try to break the law.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to highlight that some small retailers may be misusing the Farm Quality Assurance logo in their shop, with cheap imported meat actually on their shelves instead.
