Icelandic lamb will be exported to Norway to help meet the Christmas demand. Norwegian meat producers intend to purchase frozen lamb meat to use in the production of pinnekjøtt, a traditional Norwegian Christmas dish made from lamb or mutton.
From a sheep round up in Iceland. Photo by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir.
On the website of the Norwegian state broadcaster, NRK, it is stated that the meat is from last year’s slaughter season. There has been criticism as to the lack of information on how old the meat is and when it was frozen.
According to Norwegian regulations, food labels must state when the food was frozen, ruv.is reports.
Owner of meat company Nordfjord Kjøt Geir Egil Roksvåg told NRK that the meat is labeled with a best before date.
According to Roksvåg, as there is a shortage of Norwegian lamb, importing Icelandic lamb is a good option. “Most people know that frozen meat is perfectly good food which keeps for several years.”
In the lead up to Christmas last year, Norway appealed for butter from Iceland after a serious shortage of the product was hampering pre-Christmas baking.
Click here to read about that story.
ZR
