A supermarket giant has apologised after selling imported lamb in one of its stores in the Borders, incorrectly labelled as being born, bred and slaughtered in the UK.

Sue Sharp, who runs a sheep farm with her husband Robert at Heriot Mill in Midlothian bought a leg of lamb at Asda in Galashiels for their Easter lunch, having specifically sought out British produce.

With the label clearly clearly claiming UK provenance, Mrs Sharp said she was shocked when she unwrapped the leg to discover that it bore a New Zealand health stamp on the meat.

Having written to the chief executive of Asda, Mrs Sharp has since received an apology from the retailer, explaining that human error was responsible and that the store's practices would be reviewed.

NFU Scotland has been discussing the matter with Asda staff this week and will meet with representatives of the company later this month, to look at the retailers' plans for further boosting its growing sales of British and Scottish lamb this year.

NFU Scotland's Food Chain Policy Manager John Armour said: "We appreciate that mistakes happen and Asda has held its hands up. For a Scottish sheep farmer like Mrs Sharp to have bought a product that she thought would support her fellow Scottish or British farmers only to discover that it was imported is unacceptable and Asda has acknowledged that.

An Asda spokeswoman said: "This was an isolated incident where a leg of lamb was accidentally mislabelled. We pride ourselves on product traceability and transparency and are committed to sourcing British products first when in season. This was a genuine colleague error for which we apologise and was not meant to mislead any of our customers in any way. We've briefed our colleagues at the Galashiels store to make sure this doesn't happen again."