October 2015
Livestock & Meat Commission Origin of Produce Mystery Shops 2013 / 2014 / 2015
40144910 Final Methodology and Sample
• The aims and objectives of this study are to understand the origins of beef and lamb that is stocked across a variety of stores in Northern Ireland.
• On a monthly basis a Millward Brown Ulster Mystery Shopper visits 10 separate stores and records from the product labels where the meat has come from. Per month, each of the 10 stores is visited twice allowing for a weekday and weekend mystery shop. Each month, a fresh sample of stores and geographical location are selected. (From August 2013 – September 2014 only 5 stores per month were visited)
• For each beef and lamb product the following classifications are recorded: • Was the product NI Beef or lamb? / did the product carry the NIFQA logo? / was the product British Beef or lamb (inc NI)? / was it Irish Beef or Lamb?/ was it from another EU country? / or was it non EU?
• The stores within the sample that are visited include Tesco, Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Lidl, SuperValu, Marks & Spencer and Eurospar.
• Fieldwork was conducted monthly between August 2013 to October 2015.
• All fieldwork is conducted in accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct, and in compliance with the international standard ISO 20252: 2012.
2 Beef %NI Beef % NI FQAS LABELLED Beef % British Beef (Inc NI) % Irish Beef 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Beef % NI FQAS LABELLED Beef % British Beef (Inc NI) % EU Other 120
100
80
60
40
20 No data collected No data for collected October for June 0 %NI Beef % NI FQAS LABELLED Beef % British Beef (Inc NI) % Irish Beef 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Beef % NI FQAS LABELLED Beef % British Beef (Inc NI) % Irish Beef 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Beef % NI FQAS LABELLED Beef % British Beef (Inc NI) % Irish Beef 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Beef % NI FQAS LABELLED Beef % British Beef (Inc NI) % Irish Beef 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 October November December January February March April May June July September October
*In August 2015, no beef products were recorded at the particular EUROSPAR stores chosen to be mystery shopped. This store had their own butchery counter and stock very little extra meat. • The findings from the SuperValu mystery shops show that 100% of beef stocked was Northern Irish beef. Virtually all of this beef was found to contain the Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assurance label, with exceptions in August 2013 and October 2014, with 95% and 92% of products in these months showing the NI FQAS labelling.
• In November 2014 none of the SuperValu beef stocked was Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured as the Supervalu that was mystery shopped stocks Doherty’s Meat Ltd which are not Farm Quality Assured. In April 2015 the mystery shopped SuperValu stores only had a in store butchery counter therefore no data is available.
• In December 2014 two thirds of the SuperValu beef stocked was Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured while in January 2015 over four fifths was found to be NIFQA (85.8%). In June 2015 89% was NIFAQ.
• In July and August 2015100% of beef stocked was Northern Irish Farm Quality Assured beef, while in September there was a drop to 93% being NIFQA and raising back to 100% in October 2015.
10 Lamb %NI Lamb % NI FQAS LABELLED Lamb % British Lamb (Inc NI) % Non EU % Irish Lamb 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Lamb % NI FQAS LABELLED Lamb % British Lamb (Inc NI) % Non EU 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
No data collected No data for collected October for June 0.0 %NI Lamb % NI FQAS LABELLED Lamb % British Lamb (Inc NI) % Non EU 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Lamb % British Lamb (Inc NI) % Irish Lamb 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Lamb % NI FQAS LABELLED Lamb % British Lamb (Inc NI) % Irish Lamb % Non-EU 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 %NI Lamb % NI FQAS LABELLED Lamb % British Lamb (Inc NI) % Irish Lamb 120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0 October* November* December* January* April*
*In October, November, December 2014 and January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October 2015, no lamb products were recorded at the particular EUROSPAR stores chosen to be mystery shopped. These stores have their own butchery counter and stock very little extra meat. • The findings from the SuperValu mystery shops show that in the August 2013, November, June July and August 2014 months when lamb was stocked, 100% of it was Northern Irish, with virtually all products having the Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assurance labelling present (93%, 95%, 100%).
• In July, August, September and October 2015 no lamb was stocked in SuperValu stores.
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