Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) chief executive Ian Stevenson believes that consumers in countries around the world are waking up to the reality that sustainable farming and food chains must be maintained.
LMC chief executive, Ian Stevenson.Stevenson said: “Without farmers, the rest of the food chain just doesn’t exist. Out of every crisis comes an opportunity. Almost every country around the world has been impacted by Covid-19 and never has there been a better time to focus on food security and the value to society of our robust and reliable quality assured beef and lamb supply chain to feed the nation. “LMC has been running its highly visible and impactful beef and lamb advertising campaign across a range of media in recent months and a host of easy to cook delicious recipes are available on LMC’s consumer facing web site: www.beefandlambni.com. “Recently the Commission has been channelling more content across its social media platforms as people are actively using such platforms to stay in touch with each other, to seek information and to search for ideas on what to do with their additional time being spent at home.“With restaurants and the rest of the food service now largely closed in the wake of the Covid-19 restrictions, consumers now have the perfect opportunity to sit down and enjoy a whole host of easy-to-prepare and cook red meat dishes, all of which the whole family can enjoy.”
“With retail outlets being the main source of food for consumers at this time our assured produce is playing a key role in meeting this supply. Consumers across Northern Ireland should actively seek out the FQAS logo on all the beef and lamb they buy over the coming days."
Underpinning all the claims made by the LMC regarding the excellence of locally produced red meat is the continuing success of the Northern Ireland Beef and Lamb Farm Quality Assurance Scheme (FQAS). According to Ian Stevenson, it has been designed over many years to service the needs of the beef and lamb sector, in tandem with its customers. Stevenson added: “With retail outlets being the main source of food for consumers at this time our assured produce is playing a key role in meeting this supply. Consumers across Northern Ireland should actively seek out the FQAS logo on all the beef and lamb they buy over the coming days. If consumers are buying beef and lamb in butcher’s shops ask for evidence that it is locally sourced and quality assured, take nothing for granted. “Farmers, food processors and essential supply chain workers continue to get FQAS beef and lamb to the retail shelves. “It is, therefore, incumbent on shoppers to throw their weight behind these efforts. This means making high quality, nutritious and sustainable FQAS beef and lamb the perfect meal solution. “This is the most relevant way of thanking all those working in our red meat supply chain at the present time.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
