Ken Fletcher described the investigation from BBC Scotland’s Disclosure team as a “non-story”.

The fact that dairy bull calves are essentially a waste product from milk production may be well-understood - and even widely accepted - in farming communities but awareness of this is not high among ordinary consumers.

The recent increase in live exports from Scotland of calves in trucks across Europe is very much a story, and one most viewers would have had little idea about before our investigation.

Nor would they know that live exports from Spain (where most Scottish calves end up for fattening) to North Africa and the Middle East have also increased dramatically in the last couple of years.

And I doubt whether they understood traceability cannot be guaranteed once Scottish cattle enter the general cattle market in Spain.

The story we told is very much in the public interest.

The Westminster government is currently consulting on banning all live exports for fattening and slaughter. The central question - whether such a long confined journey for cattle can be justified - was legitimate to explore.

The team continued to follow the truck after it was discovered dairy bull calves were no longer on board because of general concerns about live exports and because journey logs had already established Scottish calves end up in Italy. It was reasonable to see how the cattle travelled and where they ended up.

There was one error in footage used in the programme. It was quickly corrected, with the right footage of cattle being loaded onto a boat in Spain in June of this year bound for North Africa. Spanish live exports have increased significantly since 2016, with key destinations including Libya, Lebanon, Algeria and Egypt, where EU slaughter regulations do not apply.

The journalism in this investigation was robust and the questions it posed about traceability were entirely justified.

Shelley Jofre, Editor, Investigations, BBC Scotland