NFU Scotland is calling for greater origin labelling on processed beef. They maintain that improved country of origin labelling (COOL) on processed beef products is needed to allow shoppers to support Scottish farmers and crofters
In a letter to the Defra Minister George Eustice, NFU Scotland has made it clear that shoppers must have the ability to identify where the beef they are buying comes from, whether fresh or processed.
Scottish beef farmers and crofters have specifically raised the issue of origin labelling on processed food products where beef makes up one of the main ingredients of that product as such a measure would enable the consumer to support domestic beef production whilst enhancing transparency in the marketplace.
NFU Scotland believes this is an area which the UK Government could legislate upon the UK’s departure from the European Union and has written to Defra Minister George Eustice MP.
NFU Scotland Livestock Chair Jimmy Ireland said: “Consumers need to be able to be confident when they are buying beef products that they are getting high quality, high welfare, environmentally considerate Scottish beef with low food miles.
“Scottish shoppers want to buy Scottish and we want to guarantee they can week in, week out.
Market round-up
Messrs Craig Wilson Ltd sold 9 prime heifers at Ayr on Tuesday to a top of £1282 per head and 231p/kg to average £1165 or 207p, while 2 Highland Cross prime bullocks peaked at £1018 and 176p to level at £975 or 175p.
In the rough ring beef 41 beef cows sold to £1050 and 155p to average 116p, while 73 dairy cows peaked at £920 and 155p to level at 90p. Four bulls sold to £1290 and 138p to average 120p, while 11 Clean, OTM cattle peaked at £1070 and 166p to level at 137p.
Three dairy cattle sold to £1880 for a freshly calved Holstein Friesian heifer.
C&D Auction Marts Ltd held their weekly sale of 3,443 store lambs at Longtown on Tuesday. Topping the sale was a pen of 20 Beltex lambs at £94. Suffolk lambs sold to £83 and Texels to £77. The firm also held its Special August sale of store cattle on Tuesday with a catalogued entry of 289. The sale was topped at £1,380 and £1,360 for British Blue heifers with bullocks selling to £1,220 for a Limousin. Limousin bulls sold to £970.
Messrs Craig Wilson Ltd had 1082 prime lambs forward at their weekly sale in Newton Stewart yesterday. Top prices on the day were £83.50 for Texels and 200p/kg for Beltex with the overall average levelling at 171p (-8p).
Cast sheep followed the national trend for prime lambs and were harder to cash. Heavy ewes sold to £136 Texels.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here