Red Tractor plans more inspections and new environmental standards

The Red Tractor scheme will be broadened into areas such as organic and environmentally-friendly produce and higher animal welfare, it has announced.

The UK’S biggest food assurance label will also strengthen its farm assessment regime, with more unannounced inspections to ensure producers are meeting the standards 365 days a year, the organisation said.

The announcement comes after concerns were raised about cruelty to pigs on a Red Tractor accredited farm, which was subsequently removed from the scheme. The food assurance scheme, launched in 2000 in the wake of food scares including BSE and foot and mouth disease, is also launching a £1.5 million TV advertising campaign to promote the regime.

As part of efforts to position itself as the “flagship” of British food and farming, Red Tractor will bring in news sets of standards covering areas such as organic food, enriched animal welfare and environmentally sustainable farming.

These standards, set to be introduced in 2019, will sit alongside the existing core scheme, and will include consumer labelling to improve clarity for shoppers, the food industry-owned body said.

Red Tractor hopes to work with organisations which already certify produce in these areas, such as organic body the Soil Association. and environmental farming body Leaf.

Working with these bodies could widen the use of organic, environmental or enhanced welfare standards among Red Tractor’s 46,000 members and simplify labelling for consumers, chief executive Jim Moseley said.

And he said: “Our vision is that Red Tractor is seen by shoppers, farmers and the food industry as the flagship of British food and farming.”