Following calls from MPs for greater transparency around country-of-origin labelling, Red Tractor Chief Executive, Paul McLaughlin, has commented on the importance of ensuring consumers can clearly identify whether food is British.
Nobody should ever be misled about where their food comes from.
British farmers and growers, together with the supply chain, have convened behind the Red Tractor scheme, working hard to earn the trust of consumers. That trust depends on clear and honest information at the point of purchase.
Shoppers overwhelmingly trust British
We know shoppers overwhelmingly trust British food and British farmers and as an industry we can’t afford for that trust to be lost.
Using the Union Jack on produce that is not wholly British from farm to pack risks undermining that trust. It blurs the lines between food that has been produced here to British standards and food that may only have been processed or packed here.
Circle of trust
If we are asking shoppers to buy British and support British farmers and growers who produce our food to some of the highest standards in the world, we have to make it easy for them to do so.
This is why the Red Tractor logo matters. When food is produced in the UK to Red Tractor standards it carries the logo and sits within what I would describe as a circle of trust. It means shoppers, retailers and the wider supply chain can have confidence in the rigorous, independently verified production standards from farms to pack.
Today, the Red Tractor logo appears on more than £17 billion worth of British food and drink, produced by more than 40,000 British farms and growers.
Build on consumer trust
My ambition is simple: I want Red Tractor to be trusted by farmers, chosen by markets and understood by consumers.
Clear British labelling should build on consumer trust, not put it at risk. No consumer should ever be left confused about whether the food they are buying is truly British and the best way to overcome that is to look for the Red Tractor.