Sainsbury’s has committed to sourcing 100% British lamb by 1st July. The retailer announced its latest procurement commitment on Friday, and said “despite the wet and cold spring” it is working with its farmer suppliers to boost availability of quality new season lamb on its shelves through May and June until it is all British.

Sainsbury’s said its Taste the Difference and organic lamb ranges are all already British, but that it will now focus on maintaining 100% British sourced lamb during the main across its ranges. Last year Sainsbury’s said it would extend its British lamb season until the New Year, making it five weeks longer than the previous year’s (2014/15).

On Friday, Philip Hambling, Agriculture Manager at Sainsbury’s commented, “The Weather can have a big impact on our sheep farmers so the cool, wet spring we have had means many of these farms have had a difficult start to the year. We never stop buying British lamb and we’re pleased to confirm 100% of the lamb we source will be British by the beginning of July, if not sooner. We feel it’s important to make this commitment to our farmers in advance so they can plan for the season ahead.”

Henry Dunn, a Sainsbury’s sheep farmer from Newent, Gloucestershire added, “I’ve worked closely with Sainsbury’s for over 10 years, I think they really understand the impact the weather has had on us and the importance of switching at the right time. By making this commitment up front means we have confidence in the coming months.”

Sainsbury’s caused a stir in 2014, when the company announced it would be phasing out the use of the Red Tractor logo – which denotes British production – on its packaging. At the same time as making new commitments to sourcing more products from British farmers, the supermarket said it did not want to support a label that sets the bar low and does not differentiate the product enough in customers' eyes. Justin King, Sainsbury’s CEO at the time, described industry-wide schemes like Red Tractor as the “refuge of scoundrels”.