THE Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has rejected complaints from farmers about an advertisement run by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which showed a dish of lamb cutlets in a urinal.

The FSA ran the campaign to encourage consumers to look for the food hygiene rating of restaurants and food outlets.

The National Sheep Association (NSA) and EBLEX both lodged complaints with the ASA about the posters, an NSA spokesman saying: “Our members are been appalled that lamb had been singled out and saddled with such a negative image.”

The ASA said it thought it unlikely the advertisement would mislead consumers about the safety of eating lamb and doubted they would see it as a comment about the meat used, rather than the hygiene issues highlighted.

Stephen Humphreys, director of communications at the FSA, said: “We are pleased the ASA rejected this complaint. The campaign was designed to challenge assumptions that an establishment’s appearance alone is the best way to judge standards of hygiene.

"We were simply reminding consumers to check hygiene standards when eating out. We always trusted the intelligence of consumers to realise we were making a point about the food establishments and not the food itself.”