How can you tell where your joint of meat has come from

A.� Meat eaters can now get to see their preferred joint of meat, still grazing contentedly on the farm. Shoppers who buy Greenstuff products - a branded range of organic Irish beef, lamb and sausages - can log onto an internet site for a full curriculum vitae of the animal they are about to eat. The number code lets them find which farm their meat came from, how the animla was fed, its medical history and at what age it went to slaughter. Below the information is a picture of the animal, in its herd, with the farmer responsible for the produce.

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Q.� Will this hit the shops

A.� Fresh & Wild, the organic chain store which is selling Greenstuff at four of its six London stores, said traceability was what shoppers now demanded. Consumers buying a packet of beef could, in theory, discover where the animal was born and on which day it was slaughtered. The store believes this approach could restore integrity to the meat industry which has been badly hit by food scares such as BSE and foot-and-mouth. Many shoppers have become alarmed by factory farming scares and there is a growing interest in farm animals' welfare.

Farmers First, a co-operative of 8,000 English farmers, has just launched a project to sell packs of whole or half lambs direct to customers with guaranteed next day delivery.

The co-operative says the idea will reassure customers - the meat is killed locally, chilled, boxed and sent out by couriers. It says it received over 400 orders from customers in the first week of trading and TV cook Delia Smith plans to feature the scheme in her website.

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Q.� Is this the future of farming

A.� These schemes are thought to be important to the future of farming. Organic food is the biggest growth sector in the industry. Organic farmers say they want to show their farms and animals to consumers, and this is the way public confidence will be restored. Meat sales have slumped drmatically over the last 10 years and more people are turning to vegeterianism. Lord Peter Melchett, former head of Greenpeace and now a consultant for the Soil Association, was quoted recently as saying: "If people were shown the life of an intensively reared pig or chicken in industrial agriculture and how they were kept in utterly miserable conditions, they simply wouldn't buy i."

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By Katharine MacColl