There are three major markets for lamb — retail and catering domestic markets, and the export market. Most of the latter is within the European Community (EC) and as 1992 approaches the differences between the domestic and EC export markets will become less distinct. The basis of specifications for all of these markets, and sectors within them, is weight range, fatness and conformation. The majority of lamb is sold to the consumer (whether retail or catering) in a ‘bone-in’ form and weight range is therefore critical for many cuts, for example chops and leg joints, in determining either weight at sale (and price of pack) or portion size.

In the domestic market major multiple supermarkets are gaining market share at the expense of independent butchers. With their purchasing power they can and do impose increasingly tight and sophisticated specifications. All, for their majority of ‘bone-in’ cuts, specify a carcass weight range of 16 to 20 kg. It is estimated by the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) that around 8% of lamb is now sold retail in a boneless form (boneless joints, lamb steaks, cubed lamb and minced lamb) and that this is a growing sector of the lamb market. Lamb is a small carcass unit (in comparison with beef and pork), has a high bone content and thus the cost of boning-out lamb carcasses is high. To reduce costs there is advantage in buying heavier lambs (but only if they are lean) and the premium specification for lambs for producing boneless cuts (and other forms of products) are increasingly in the range 20 to 24 kg.

Fatness continues to be the primary consumer negative about lamb. For ‘bone-in’ cuts it is difficult to trim, for boneless cuts extra trimming is possible but at the cost of reduced yields. There is a common specification for fatness in terms of MLC carcass classification — fat class 2 or 3L with increasing preference for the former. Conformation is the least important aspect of domestic market specifications. Nevertheless, for ‘bone-in’ cuts, particularly the important leg joint, shape is considered by many meat buyers as being important and most will be specifying carcasses of at least average shape, i.e. carcass class R. The export market is more complicated in terms of basic specifications. For the major market in northern and central France the specification is more or less identical to that of the major supermarkets in the domestic market. In south Europe requirement is for a much lighter lamb, 8 to 12 kg, very lean, fat class 1 and 2, and shape is almost irrelevant. Belgium and Germany require heavier lambs (18 to 22 kg) and this reflects usage in catering and processing.

There is growing interest in quality assurance schemes for lamb in the UK based on various carcass, slaughterhouse, storage and distribution factors.