AUSTRALIA’S sheep industry is set to redefine what is classed as ‘lamb’ by spring 2019, if all goes according to plan.
Sheep Producers Australia has put its support behind changing the definition of lambs to “young sheep under 12 months of age or which do not have any permanent incisor teeth in wear”, bringing the Australian industry in-line with New Zealand.
SPA president Allan Piggott said this issue had been on the agenda for at least a decade and could save producers nearly $10 million a year by removing the existing marker of “evidence of incisor teeth”, which could be impacted not just by age but by feed availability.
“(Producers) have had a bit of a cliff-face – one minute it’s a lamb and the next it’s mutton and there is about a two-thirds difference in price,” he said.
“It costs producers nearly $10m a year in having lamb downgraded.”
He said it would have no impact on the quality of the product.
“It really is a subtle change and consumers aren’t going to notice any difference in the products on their supermarket shelf,” he said.
SPA put its support behind the proposal after a nine-week public consultation period showed 83 per cent of the 509 respondents were in favour of the change.
Mr Piggott said some producers still had concerns and SPA had tried to address these on its website.
He said one major worry was the potential impact of the change on the international reputation of Australian lamb.
“NZ already exports to all the markets we export to so I’m very confident it won’t be an issue,” he said.
The next stage in the process includes working with the Australian Meat Industry Council to change the lamb definition in federal, state and industry regulations and standards.
“For all Australian Aus-Meat-accredited plants the change will be quite easy but for other plants, regulations are on a state basis,” he said.
Mr Piggott said another positive by-product from the change would be a harmonious definition across all jurisdictions.
He estimates this process could take up to 12 months.
“If we’ve got it by the peak of lamb selling in 2019, it will be a good result,” he said.