British consumers ‘overwhelmingly’ place their trust in UK food, but confusion around how much food is produced in the UK still remains, according to a new report from Red Tractor Assurance.
Morrisons and 2 Sisters Food Group are among the firms signing up to a new voluntary processor code of practice for the purchase of cattle in a bid to enhance transparency and trust in the supply chain.
Welsh beef farmers’ fears Red Tractor accreditation would “increase costs” throughout the supply chain without any return have been dismissed by David Clarke, boss of Assured Food Standards (AFS), which operates the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme.
A “raft of initiatives” has been launched by the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme in a bid to improve its effectiveness and provide increased scrutiny of the supply chain.
Branded ready-meal manufacturers are likely to adopt the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme logo over the next few months, according to the boss of the scheme.
Retail giant Sainsbury is to put the Red Tractor logo – formerly used for meat, poultry, dairy and fresh products – on the scrapheap, attributing the decision to what it termed “consumer confusion”.
Pig producers insist that British pork is produced to top welfare standards despite a ruling from the advertising watchdog banning three adverts claiming that Red Tractor pork is produced to higher animal welfare standards.
British retailers are backing the Red Tractor food assurance scheme with two thirds of all eligible fresh commodity foods sold through the major high...