Sheep farmers have butted heads with a national wildlife foundation after it published a report labelling lamb stew as one of the most environmentally unfriendly meals in the UK.

Farmers’ Unions have been left “astonished” and “disappointed” by a report published by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which labelled Welsh lamb cawl as the most polluting classic British meal.

The report, published to highlight how some of Britain’s favourite dishes could change as a result of climate change, said a bowl of lamb cawl produced as much pollution as boiling a kettle 258 times because of methane from sheep.

But sheep farmers have hit back at the report saying it “failed to include the important environmental benefits of sheep farming.”

The National Sheep Association and National Farmers Union Cymru argued that the findings had failed to highlight the advantages of Welsh lamb stew; both environmentally and from a nutritional perspective.