Company that mis-labelled Australian meat as Welsh ‘not trying to pull wool over people’s eyes’

A company that mis-labelled meat as Welsh have said that they “weren’t trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes”.

Questions were raised about Llechwedd Meats’ produce after a picture was posted on social media showing both Australian and Welsh Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status.

However, the award-winning family butchers said that it was a “genuine mistake” after an employee stuck the wrong label on.

They said that they had struggled to recruit staff due to Brexit and the pandemic and that a new member of staff required additional training.

Picture been taken from Facebook, how is this right? How can they stamp it with the @PGIWelshBeef stamp when it’s from Australia? Surely this is against the law? Its from a mean company on Anglesey called Llechwedd meats! @HybuCigCymru @angleseycouncil@NFUCymru@NFUtweets pic.twitter.com/pXbxto8BLO

— Tudur Evans (@EvansTudur) October 17, 2021

Managing Director Norman Roberts told Farmers Weekly: “The Welsh label went on the pack and it was just a genuine mistake by a new employee who has been working for us for two weeks. Nobody picked it up.

“If we had put on the label that the meat was produced in Wales, that would have been totally wrong. We said where the meat had come from [Australia]” he said.

“I’m a farmer myself and all my friends are farmers. We weren’t trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes.

“We are a big supporter of Welsh farming. Over the last two weeks, we have bought in over 200 Welsh lambs.

“We are more or less Welsh on the beef and English on the pork. We do sell NZ lamb and some Aussie beef. But you have got to give the choice. We are in the catering job. It’s a different game.”