Scotch Beef and Lamb to star in Christmas Market

Sotch Beef and Scotch Lamb will feature amongst some of Britain’s most cherished produce at an upcoming Christmas Market.

Quality Meat Scotland is taking part in the Defra-organised Protected Food Names Christmas Market, taking place on Thursday 10th at New Covent Garden Market in Vauxhall, London.

The market will give QMS the opportunity to highlight Scotch Beef and Lamb to national and regional media as well as senior parliamentarians, and explain why the regionally unique status of the products meant they were the first fresh red meats to be awarded EU Protected Geographical Indication status.

The market follows the inaugural Protected Food Names Roadshow event, which took place at 10 Downing Street in August.

QMS Head of Marketing, Laurent Vernet will be leading the QMS presence at the market, having previously spoken at a PGI workshop at Brussels and he was also part of the committee discussing the future of the scheme in Prague earlier this year.

He said: “As an industry body we have taken every opportunity to maximise the benefits of having PGI status for Scotland’s cattle and sheep producers.

“Scotch Beef was the first European red meat product to be granted the coveted PGI status closely followed by Scotch Lamb. Not only were we the first, we also produce higher volumes of PGI bearing product than anywhere else in Britain.

“With Christmas coming up people will be looking for the best produce to share with their families and products carrying the PGI marque come with a whole background of tradition and quality so that people can be sure they are getting a genuine, unique regional taste.

“Now that all PGI-bearing products should be carrying the logo on packaging, it should now be easier for quality-seeking consumers to find the best of our country’s regional produce, which will be guaranteed to please even this most discerning of diners this Christmas.”

The opportunities Protected Food Name status can offer regionally specific foods is becoming a major topic of discussion, particularly in a country such as Scotland, which is famed for its produce.

Quality Meat Scotland this week also took part in a Scottish Government funded PFN conference in Perth to discuss the potential of protected status for other quintessentially Scottish foods. (Details of which can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/12/02111453)

For more information about the PGI promises offered by Scotch Beef and Lamb, visit www.scotchbeefandlamb.com