REGINA — Some Saskatchewan consumers will now know whether they are buying lamb that was produced in their province.
Two IGA grocery stores in Regina are offering the fresh lamb and a third is expected to do so soon in Saskatoon.
A made-in-Saskatoon logo appears on the lamb, as well as recipe cards with preparation instructions.
Gordon Schroeder of the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board believes Saskatchewan consumers will buy the domestic lamb.
“If given the choice, Saskatchewan consumers will buy Saskatchewan products,” he said.
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“Before this, you couldn’t buy fresh Saskatchewan lamb off the shelf. Now not only can you buy it, but you know where it came from.”
He said the Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development in Saskatchewan program supplied the salary for one staff member to co-ordinate the program and mediate between the grocery store, packers, producers and the development board.
The development board has also been working on packaged ready for the oven and microwavable lamb products.
Schroeder said Saskatchewan’s sheep industry is growing rapidly, with an 18 percent increase last year.
Provincial agriculture minister Clay Serby hopes that growth will continue.
“We need a larger livestock base in this province, a greater opportunity for income for Saskatchewan farmers.”
The sheep are slaughtered in Alberta, but the development board hopes a planned slaughter facility will open in Saskatoon next year.
Shipping live animals to Alberta and carcasses back to Saskatchewan results in shrinkage and transportation costs.
Serby said the province has “for too long shipped live animals out of the province without the benefits of value-added food production chain here at home.”
It is estimated that 85 percent of Saskatchewan-produced lamb is exported to other provinces or countries.
Schroeder said a federally inspected slaughter facility in Saskatchewan would encourage a quality assurance program patterned after the beef industry’s Quality Starts Here. Such programs include traceable animal identification through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, a code of practice for producers, and grower accreditation.
Saskatchewan is the fourth largest sheep producer in Canada with 69,000 ewes producing more than 100,000 lambs annually.
