New Zealand lamb arrived on British shores this week in the first shipment of the new season.

The meat traditionally goes on sale in January at the end of New Zealand's spring, when British lamb is largely unavailable. Home-grown lambs won't be ready until early April, just in time for Easter.

This week New Zealand Lamb Week celebrated 125 years of the historical lamb trade with Britain. The first shipment arrived on the HMS Dunedin in 1882, thanks to a pioneering on-board freezing plant. Now most of the lamb imported is chilled.

As usual, producers are emphasising the delicate flavour and nutritional benefits of lamb that is extensively grazed and low in fat. They are also stressing their environmental credentials this year, echoing a report published last autumn that claimed lamb in New Zealand had one quarter of the carbon footprint of British-grown animals. This has been vigorously denied by the MLC.