The Co-op’s declaration that it will sell British-only fresh meat has garnered considerable attention this week, but as far as beef is concerned, what it is calling for has already happened a long time ago.

Only three of the 10 largest supermarket groups in Britain take any beef from Ireland, with the remainder sourcing 100% British beef.

AHDB, the beef and sheep meat industry levy board in England and Wales, publishes the results of a regular monitoring service it undertakes in retail stores.

In the most recent published results from January 2017, ASDA had the lowest proportion of UK beef at 61%, followed by Tesco on 67% and Sainsbury’s on 86% UK beef.

The remainder of the top 10 supermarkets – Aldi, Budgens, Co-op, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrison’s and Waitrose – were found to have stocked 100% British beef.

Overall, the amount of beef that is of UK origin is 81% when spread across all the top 11 retailers, according to AHDB.

This has consistently been the position for a long time, with the only variation being the amount of UK beef ASDA, Tesco and Sainsbury’s stocked.

While there is no analysis undertaken of where the non-UK beef comes from, there is a strong belief that virtually all of it is Irish.

The suppliers to the UK supermarket trade have all strong Irish connections and it is accepted that they turn to Ireland as the preferred supplier of extra requirements given that our standards match if not exceed those of the UK.

Lamb

On lamb, there was less 100% UK sourcing reported in the ADHB January survey, with only Marks & Spencer, Budgens and Aldi stocking 100% UK lamb.

While the Co-op wasn’t 100% UK, it had a high proportion at 97% UK only, as did Morrisons on 96%.

Sainsbury’s was on 84% for lamb, Lidl on 78%, Tesco was on 67%, ASDA on 48% and, surprisingly, Waitrose had only 33% UK lamb when surveyed.

While we can estimate that most of the non-UK beef in supermarkets is Irish, we have less idea on how much Irish lamb is carried because we compete with New Zealand as the preferred second-choice supplier.

The failure of the Irish beef industry to capture a larger share of the UK retail market has been a long-running issue, with no connection to the Co-op’s statements of this week.