LAMB is a thoroughly modern meat - flexible, easy to prepare and easy to cook.

Richard Sadler, the former head of meat, dairy and poultry products for Waitrose, had an upbeat message for the conference, held at the Rheged Centre, Penrith.

"It carries flavours well. To me it is a thoroughly modern meat," he said.

Although it might seem expensive to some, he related it directly to the amount of saleable meat that could be prepared per man hour on a production line.

"Produce a 30 to 35 kilo lean, well-conformed carcase, consistently and without adding significant weight as fat, and you would be welcomed with open arms by processors and retailers alike," he said.

Waitrose, with about 4pc of the supermarkets' business overall, but was heading towards 10pc in lamb, and still growing.

Seasonality was a problem and he disagreed with producers who believed they still produced tender, lean and succulent lamb in December, January and February.

"The complaint level for tough, tainted, 'off' flavoured meat rises considerably from December and that is why Waitrose introduces chilled New Zealand lamb for that period," said Mr Sadler. "So, no matter what time of year customers buy lamb, Waitrose has proven time and again that tenderness and succulence brings customers back for more."

He challenged breeders to help their commercial customers understand what they produced by embarking on benchmarking taste and flavour to compare the Suffolk product with competing breeds.

"It is a huge challenge with many variables, but you have to start somewhere," said Mr Sadler, who believed the key problem for all breed societies was their distance from the consumer and, in many cases, from their commercial clients.

Genetic markers and estimated breeding values were essential and research projects in those areas should be pressed on with as fast as possible, as should the development of performance records.

"As your commercial customers produce lamb for a more and more discerning market, they will want the best of the best," said Mr Sadler. "This means sires that 'do the do', not necessarily satisfying the traditional concepts of what Suffolks stand for or look like in standard handbooks."

Earlier he said there was a certain wholesomeness about the Suffolk. "There is a sort of vision," he said. "If you go into our stores you will see a Suffolk lamb there on the label. Our stylist picked it to use, we did not ask him to."

Mr Sadler said the market place was full of opportunities, particularly in regional and local foods, and the Suffolk had a good opportunity to make the grade in marketing.

"It may be a little late to tap into a supermarket scheme, but what about the terrific reawakening of interest in local and regional foods?" he said. "This gives you a huge opportunity with some of the high-profile farm shops or indeed high quality catering firms, who are all responding to current consumer trend and interest in food, its origins and production systems."