QMS to streamline beef and sheep quality assurance standards

A 15% reduction in the number of standards beef and sheep producers in Scotland are required to meet is on the cards, as part of a review by levy body Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) of the Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb “geographical indicator” marques.

The review is aimed at consolidating and streamlining parts of the two quality assurance schemes, to make the auditing process less onerous on farmers, while maintaining the integrity for consumers.

See also: How the UK farm assurance review is progressing

Chair of the standards setting board Niall Jeffery, said: “This is about making the standards more refined – adding clarity and reducing duplication, whilst maintaining the integrity of our renowned, premium red meat brands.

“Our recent research shows that 87% of our target ‘conscious life-styler’ consumers view provenance as a key factor influencing their red meat purchase decisions.”

The first phase of the review has identified opportunities to refine the standards and reduce duplication.

For example, QMS is planning to remove two food safety standards covering food chain information declaration and broken needle policies, as they are already covered in other areas, such as the health plan.

Several standards relating to animal medicines may also be combined, reducing their number for nine to six (even though the content remains the same).

And under the environmental section, it is planned to reduce the three previous standards to two – one covering the outside storage of farmyard manure, the other covering the application of waste, manures and slurry to farmland.

“This streamlining process could see standards reducing by around 15%,” said a QMS statement.

Feedback

QMS says it is still keen to receive farmer feedback before finalising the changes, which should come into effect from 1 June 2025.

It has therefore set up an online survey for levy payers, to study the proposals in more detail and share their opinions.

The survey is open until 5pm on 6 November 2024.

Around 90% of Scotland’s cattle, sheep and pig livestock farmed for red meat are part of the Scotch Beef UK GI, Scotch Lamb UK GI and Specially Selected Pork brands.