Spring lamb no more

Press, 18 March 1983, Page 11

Spring lamb no more

NZPA New York Frozen New Zealand lamb imported by the . United States would no ■ longer be labelled spring lamb, said an official of the American Sheep Producers’ .Council. To many people the first .lamb of the spring season is "what they think of as spring .. lamb. The long-standing tradition of serving lamb at “Easter in Mediterranean .countries and the paschal Jamb symbolised at Passo- > ver have reinforced the .'association of lamb and springtime. But today the spring lamb season encompasses most of the year. The Federal regulations on the labelling of food . products say that the term “spring lamb” or “genuine spring lamb” applies only to new crop lambs slaughtered ,Jn the period between the beginning of March and “the close of the week containing

the first Monday in October.”

The American Sheep Producers’ Council is discouraging any use of the term “spring lamb” because, according to Ms Georgia Doherty, director of communications, top-quality fresh lamb is available all the year round.

“Consumers should not have to pay the higher prices that some butchers get by calling lamb ‘spring lamb’ at certain times of the year when there really is no difference.” she said.

Similarly, imported frozen New Zealand lamb will no longer be labelled spring lamb either.

The dates governing New Zealand spring lamb run from October to May as a result of the difference between seasons in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.