Joyces Supermarkets have this week said they are delighted to help promote the brand of Connemara Hill Lamb in all their stores and that they look forward to working with farmers to ensure the furtherance of the brand.
Connemara Hill Lamb was founded in 1999 to develop, market and promote a unique lamb indigenous to Connemara region which dates back to the 1800s. Prior to 1999 there were readily available markets for Connemara hill lamb. It was with this intention that the group was founded.
The group has, in conjunction with Teagasc, organised and conducted a training course in quality hill lamb production. The main aim was to produce and develop quality lamb production. From its very beginning the group recognised the uniqueness of its product and set about achieving protected geographical indication status.
Connemara hill lamb is fully traceable from farm to fork. All lambs are affixed with a special ear tag and carcass swing tag. On site inspections are carried out on all farms to inspect and tag all lambs prior to slaughter. In February 2007, Connemara Hill Lamb Ltd successfully achieved the European Protected Geographical Indication (PGI ) status.
This means that the use of the name Connemara Hill Lamb is reserved exclusively for hill lamb born and reared within the designated area by registered members of Connemara Hill Lamb Ltd, and is protected against imitation, exploitation or misuse.
Pat Joyce, owner of Joyce’s supermarkets said: “At Joyce’s selling the best of quality meat is at the fore front of my business always looking to work alongside local suppliers and now I believe with Connemara hill lamb we have a product that is unique in flavour and quality that can never be matched, and look forward to working with the sheep farmers from Connemara in promoting their passion and love for what they do to create this unique product.”
