NSA pleased with project progress ahead of Love Lamb Week

The NSA launched British Heritage Sheep (BHS) to highlight the differences in sheep meat depending on age, breed and grazing environment. This initiative provides the perfect backdrop for the 10th anniversary of Love Lamb Week (1st-7th September), where NSA will once again champion lamb’s versatility, nutritional value and the farmers and landscapes that produce it.

Sheep meat is one of very few undifferentiated foods. There are many types of cheese, apples, breeds of beef and so on, but retailers rarely inform customers about the details of the sheep meat they stock.

Promoting sheep breed diversity is a key part of the meat traceability project and to help make fully traceable lamb, hogget and mutton accessible to the public, the BHS website features a free supplier directory. The directory enables consumers to access unique products while learning about individual farmers, their sheep breeds, where they farm and any awards held for their products.

With variety and fully traceable meat scarce in mainstream supermarkets, traditional butchers and farmers are benefitting from growing demand with the directory connecting a wider audience to these producers.

Bob Kennard, one of the directors of British Heritage Sheep says: "We hope the BHS initiative awakens more consumers to the wide variety of native-breed sheep meat which is available, often directly from the farmer, and most available by mail order - what could be easier? The growing BHS online directory of suppliers enables consumers to find these exciting new experiences and flavours.

“By stating the age (lamb, hogget or mutton), the breed and the countryside where the sheep are reared, people can explore this fascinating variety. It is now established that there is a genuine variety of flavours between British native breeds of sheep, particularly in older animals.

“Some native breeds take longer to mature and have slightly different shapes than the standard supermarket offering. By buying BHS sheep meat direct from farmers, consumers will help these breeds survive and enable the continuation of traditional ways of farming which preserve the priceless gene pool of our ancient breeds,” Mr Kennard concludes.

Through the BHS ethos, consumers can explore a wide range of fully traceable lamb, hogget and mutton, discovering unique breeds and regional produce. This not only supports traditional farmers and butchers but also encourages people to celebrate and enjoy the richness of British sheepmeat during Love Lamb Week.

The BHS directory underlines the themes of Love Lamb Week, celebrating the diversity, quality and traceability of British sheepmeat. By connecting consumers with farmers and traditional producers, it highlights the stories, breeds and landscapes behind every cut, reinforcing why lamb remains a versatile and celebrated choice at the heart of Britain’s culinary heritage.

Nicola Noble, NSA Project Manager, adds: “The meat traceability project embraces the British Heritage Sheep concept that different sheep breeds, aged animals and the environment they graze in all contribute to the sheepmeat taste experience. So this Love Lamb Week, welcome sheepmeat diversity to the table, and make it a regular tradition.”

Find the directory at www.heritagesheep.org