Lamb was showcased to parliamentarians in Holyrood as part of the Lamb for St Andrew’s Day initiative.

The programme encourages people across Scotland to celebrate with Scotch Lamb on the patron saint’s day and is now in its 13th year.

Stocks of Scotch Lamb in the parliament canteen for MSPs and staff sold out as industry leaders driving the campaign met with politicians.

Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and the Institute of Auctioneers and Appraisers in Scotland (IAAS), are behind the campaign to make lamb synonymous with 30 November, as turkey is for Christmas and haggis for Burns’ Night.

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At parliament, they spoke to a number of MSPs, highlighting the growing success of the Lamb for St Andrew’s Day campaign, which was celebrated internationally this year, both ahead of COP28 in Dubai and at the Ambassador’s Residence in Paris, and the need to support such an indigenous industry.

Sarah Millar, Chief Executive of QMS, said it was also an opportunity to discuss the economic, social, and environmental influence of the £290m lamb sector in Scotland and areas for market growth.

“The export market is strong and growing due to a global appreciation of the quality of Scotch Lamb and its environmental credentials, but there is a great opportunity to bring more UK consumers back to lamb to consolidate the home market.

“It ticks a number of boxes around nutrition, food miles, and sustainability. Lamb production is a natural fit with Scotland’s high rainfall and plenty of available grass, producing a tasty, versatile homegrown red meat packed with nutrients.

“Every year the awareness built from the #LambForStAndrewsDay campaign has a tangible impact, boosting sales in the livestock rings as well as from retail shelves.”

Compared to beef, which in 2022 saw 19.2kg consumption per capita in Scotland, the equivalent in lamb is 2.2kg. Scotland is 186% self-sufficient in sheep meat so QMS is looking to maximise every possible market potential.

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The campaign is gaining traction as figures show that sales in the livestock marts to butchers and processors in the last three years have increased every year in the month of November, demonstrating the growing impact of the campaign.

Neil Wilson, IAAS executive director said: “Our visit to Parliament today was another platform to demonstrate the positive impact of the lamb sector across the supply chain on Scotland’s economy, rural livelihoods, and food security and why we need to drive lamb sales to protect and promote the profitable future of our industry.

“We had some really interesting, constructive conversations with MSPs and it was great that many of those we spoke to knew about the campaign, more than ever before – and that the canteen sold out of lamb!”

In 2020, IAAS introduced The Lamb Bank, gathering financial and ‘lamb’ donations from across the industry to deliver lamb to schools, for free, in the last week of November. To date, 89,000 schoolchildren across Scotland have had the chance to cook, eat, and learn about lamb in school canteens and Home Economics classes with 114 schools participating this year.