Quality Meat Scotland secures deal with Sweden’s largest retailer

Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI will be on retail shelves throughout Sweden as a result of a successful new partnership involving Quality Meat Scotland on behalf of the Scottish red meat industry, and Swedish retail giant, ICA

ICA, the leading grocery supplier in Sweden, has been stocking Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb at selected stores in Stockholm since 2011. However, following a visit to Scotland last month to meet farmers and processors, ICA have announced that it will be offering both Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb for sale in all of its stores across Sweden, more than 1300 outlets, in the coming months.

QMS has been working to widen distribution of Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb in Sweden for some time and has undertaken a range of in-store sampling activities aimed at showcasing their high quality, flavour and versatility to Swedish consumers.

Encouraged by the positive response from their customers, Dan Jacobson, ICA’s Head of Fresh and Joakim Skold Ostling, ICA’s Chief Protein Buyer, travelled to Scotland in January and visited farms and processors. They also met representatives from Quality Meat Scotland, to discuss how they could extend the range of this premium product more widely in Sweden.

Mr Skold Ostling commented: “We are delighted to offer Scotch Beef PGI and Scotch Lamb PGI for sale in our stores across Sweden. We pride ourselves on selecting the very highest quality produce to offer our customers. Having met with representatives from Quality Meat Scotland as well as farmers and processors across Scotland, we are excited to be able to offer Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb through our 1,300 outlets.”

Both Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb are underpinned by one of the longest-running quality assurance schemes in the world, guaranteeing that the meat is sourced from selected Scottish farms which must adopt best practice in terms of animal welfare and natural production methods.

The good news comes at the start of a new Scotch Beef campaign in the UK, which aims to very clearly differentiate Scotch Beef. The nine week QMS campaign, which launched on 2nd February, has a strapline of “There’s beef, there’s Scottish beef, then there’s Scotch Beef”. It will showcase Scotch Beef and the flavour, provenance, traceability and integrity which underpin the brand’s PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status.

Laurent Vernet, Head of Marketing at QMS was delighted at the news from Sweden. He commented: ‘In recent years Swedish consumers have been more and more discerning regarding higher quality red meat with a high welfare status. ICA has always been focused on offering the best quality at the best price to their customers. By choosing Scotch Beef PGI, Swedish consumers can be confident they are choosing the best product out there in terms of quality, taste and provenance. Along with Scotch Lamb, Scotch Beef is an everyday premium product that can be enjoyed as part of a healthy, balanced diet.”