Our reduced carbon beef: beef that’s Better for the Planet

Our reduced carbon beef: beef that’s Better for the Planet

12 September 2023

At Sainsbury’s, we are committed to producing and sourcing quality beef. Working with ABP Food Group and more than 540 trusted British farmers, we have launched a new reduced carbon, grass and forage fed Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus beef range into over 60 stores1, offering high quality, great tasting products, with 25% reduced carbon compared to the industry average.3

For five years, we have been structurally changing the way in which we source beef for our Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus range, developing the largest fully integrated beef supply chain in the UK, with end-to-end traceability and influence. It’s designed to provide farmers with greater security and stability and to embrace the very best in Aberdeen Angus genetics, delivering amazing, quality, British beef with reduced environmental impacts and greater transparency. By integrating our dairy and beef supply chains, we have been able to produce a reduced carbon, fully traceable product, from farm to fork2In traditional beef supply chains around half of beef produced comes from the dairy herd. In our Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus supply chain, all beef is produced from the dairy herd, providing many benefits for the supply chain, farmers and the final product. Dairy cows in our dairy supply chain are bred with our exclusive Aberdeen Angus genetics to produce top quality, healthy animals destined for our Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus supply chain. This supply chain structure gives our dairy farmers a guaranteed outlet and price for the calves, with confident income and allows for full transparency, from farm to fork. 

Jocelyn Orr, Agriculture Manager, Sainsbury’s: "Traditional beef supply chains are historically fragmented, and our customers are increasingly demanding more visibility of where their food comes from, and how it has been produced. That’s why we’ve been working over the years to create greater transparency in our supply chains, to support British farmers and keep great tasting, high quality British beef in our consumers' baskets."

Making fundamental changes to our supply chains to further support British farmers

We designed our supply chain to provide improved security and stability for our British farmers. Through unique payment models our farmers know exactly what they will be paid for their animals before they are even born, helping to protect them against market volatility, as well as giving them confidence to invest and grow their businesses. Our Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus supply chain is 100% British, produced by our trusted partner farmers, who are independently assured to National Assurance Standards. All farmers in this supply chain also have access to a farm technical support team and all our beef farmers are provided with free on farm software that supports day to day management of the animals. We also collect health and welfare outcome data, in line with our outcome-based approach, as well as antibiotic usage information.

In this supply chain we use exclusive Aberdeen Angus genetics that have been developed by cattle genetic experts in order to produce healthy, robust animals that are naturally suited to a grass and forage diet and produce beef with a rich flavour and exquisite tenderness Forage can include plants such as silage, grass and clover, among many others, which our farmers feed in combination to provide our cattle with the variety they require to exhibit natural grazing behaviours.

As well as supporting our British farmers to produce high-quality, great tasting beef, our scheme is helping us make further progress on our Plan for Better commitments. 

As part of our ambitious Plan for Better, our new Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus range is helping us work towards meeting our commitments. Only the highest performing sires that deliver across the supply chain, considering factors from the whole length of the supply chain – from our farmers to our customers – are carefully identified and made exclusively available to our Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus supply chain. Our animals are farmed responsibly by our dedicated farmers using best practice protocols, which has helped us to reduce the carbon impact of our Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus beef Thanks to our exclusive genetics and our farmer’s management, our cattle are growing even more efficiently; their daily live weight gain is higher, which allows them to reach the desired weight with fewer inputs, resulting in a 25% lower carbon compared to industry average.3 A life cycle assessment (LCA) was undertaken by industry experts SAC consulting in June 2023, confirming our product had >25% less carbon than the industry average. 

We are very proud of our progress in this space working with and for British farmers, producing amazing quality, delicious products for our customers, and helping to look after the planet too. Less carbon, more delicious

Tom Higgs, Beef farmer, Wales: We’d been considering joining the scheme for a while, but I like to have control over my buying and marketing, so I had resisted. We were, however, finding it harder to source good quality calves and combined with the volatility of prices for everything, it was attractive to integrate an enterprise that offered some certainty. Knowing the end value and the price we’ll get on the day the calves arrive has been great for planning, budgeting and security, and I’ve also been really pleased with the quality and health of the stock which has compounded that sense of certainty.


Stephen Dob
le, Beef farmer, South Oxfordshire
: “We have recently signed up to the scheme as it not only reduces capital tied up in the beef enterprise, it helps iron out some of the price volatility that we have been hit with over the last few years”


Gav
in Hodgson, Director of Agriculture, Sainsbury’s:
"Developing sustainable supply chains is important for everyone; for Sainsbury's, for the planet, for our farmers and for our customers. By working in partnership with our farmers and suppliers throughout the entire supply chain, from farm to fork, we are building resilient supply chains which are fit for the future and are able to react to future demands - while producing great quality, great tasting products too."

 

[1] Products are currently available in 63 stores; Washington, White Rose, Harrogate, Monks Cross, Lincoln, Edenthorpe, Worksop, Sunderland, Durham, Middlesbrough, Doncaster, Bradford, Hull, Huddersfield, York, Archer Rd, Chesterfield, Whitley Bay, Leeds Colton, Grimsby, Dewsbury, Moortown, Whitehouse Farm, Tadcaster, Cramlington, Scunthorpe, Team Valley, Scarborough, Darlington, Guisborough, Ripon, Crystal Peaks, The Moor, Dronfield, Northallerton, Pocklington, Yarm, South Shields, Northumberland Park, Alnwick, Gosforth, Selby, Otley, LeedsHeadrow, Bishop Auckland, LeedsHeadingley, Throckley, Thorne, Saltburn, Haxby, Wakefield Marsh Way, Heaton Newcastle, Mansfield, Whitby, WakefieldIngsRd, Sunderland North, Sedgefield, SheffieldWadsleyBg, Hedon, Middle Warren, Balderton, Ponteland, Haltwhistle

[2] All animals in our supply chains have unique identifier ear tags linked to a British Cattle Movement Passport which records all the animals’ movements throughout the duration of its life, meaning we are able to trace exactly where our Taste the Difference joints and steaks have come from. 

[3] Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus beef represents a step-change in the environmental sustainability of British beef. Through a bespoke and integrated supply chain, this range delivers lifetime farm assurance, 25% reduction in carbon footprint versus industry standard and a fair return for farmers whilst offering unrivalled flavour and tenderness.

We commissioned SAC Consulting (an independent leading consultant in carbon measurement) to conduct a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), demonstrating that the unique supply chain delivering this Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus range has a carbon footprint 25% lower than the industry average (UK Consumed Total figure of 32.14kg Co2e per kg of processed beef to retail) as of June 2023. This work was conducted to PAS 2050, measuring carbon output from birth to the point of sale in our stores. The LCA utilised farm data from both the Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus range and comparable market data sets and included a percentage of Irish beef supply within the UK consumer benchmark data that matches average Irish beef supply within the UK market. Primary data from bespoke processing and industry bodies (ie the AHDB, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) was also used to cross reference the data and to use the most accurate benchmark information where possible.

Sainsbury’s are committed to reducing the environment impact of food production, and to encourage more sustainable systems whilst supporting farmers in helping to manage our precious natural resources.