Welsh Lamb Monday: A Cut Above

The first results of one of the biggest meat taste test programmes ever held in the UK is set to reveal PGI Welsh Lamb consumers’ preferences when it comes to taste and flavour in a special virtual event later this month.

The full results from the first trials will be announced during a social media take over; Welsh Lamb Monday: A Cut Above on 28 September 2020.

The Welsh Lamb Meat Quality project looks at factors that affect variation in meat quality, as part of Hybu Cig Cymru - Meat Promotion Wales’ (HCC) five-year, three-project, Red Meat Development Programme (RMDP) that seeks to help Welsh farming prepare for an increasingly competitive global marketplace. 

In January and February 2020, almost 500 consumers tasted and rated seven pieces of Welsh Lamb at three specialist sessions across the UK. Throughout the project’s duration, nearly 2,000 consumers will sample and rate Welsh Lamb in order to establish eating quality guidelines to better inform the industry.

Each year, different on farm and processor related factors will be tested to evaluate the impact on eating quality. This first trial explored the treatment effects of three different breed types (hill, crossbred and terminal sired lambs), meat cuts (analysing loin, topside and chump) and lamb sex (investigating ram lambs and castrated lambs) and their effect on eating quality. 

Dr Eleri Thomas, HCC Meat Quality Executive, who leads the in-house project team explains; “The first trial demonstrated some interesting results around the taste and flavour preferences of consumers as well as providing the industry with insight to consumers willingness to pay."

“Such customer feedback is essential in the foodservice and retail trade. Repeat purchases and buying trend information is valuable but there is nothing better than direct, honest consumer reactions to a product.”

Welsh Lamb Monday: A Cut Above will be filled with a number of virtual events that can be seen on HCC’s Facebook page throughout the day. Contributors include:  HCC’s Elwen Roberts, who will be cooking two delicious lamb dishes; butcher Rob Rattray, who will be giving a lamb carcase cutting demonstration, and Dr Linda Farmer, from Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI) who will be joining Dr Eleri Thomas to reveal the full results from the first year’s trial.

The Welsh Lamb Meat Quality project is supported by the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.