Red Tractor UK food standards scheme can’t see breaches because farm inspections aren’t shown

Britain’s biggest assured food standards scheme is failing to detect breaches of its animal welfare standards because just one in 1,000 inspections of its farms is unannounced, it has been claimed.

Red Tractor, which regulates food quality in the UK, has come under fire recently over a string of poor welfare conditions at some of its farms.

In the latest alleged breach, the label was forced to expel one of its pig farms last week after it received covert footage of animals being shocked with an electric prod.

Footage obtained by Animal Equality, a vegan campaign group, also reportedly showed a worker swinging piglets by their back leg and smashing their heads against a wall.

Dead piglets were also captured littered on the floor of the birthing shed at Rosebury Farm in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Red Tractor, which regulates food quality in the UK, has come under fire recently over a string of poor welfare conditions at some of its farms. One farm in Bedfordshire was revealed to have dead piglets littered on the floor of its birthing shed. File image used 

The farm had received five preannounced inspections in the past year as part of its Red Tractor certification, the most recent this month, but no problems were discovered.

However, an inspector who visited unannounced last week found several breaches of the scheme’s rules, the Times reported.

Red Tractor said that it had taken away Rosebury Farm’s assurance certificate because of the use of the electric prod, which is not allowed under its standards.

It also found several unspecified ‘non-conformance issues’ when the farm was inspected after the animal activist’s complaint.

Michael Thorne, who runs Rosebury Farm, apologised for his actions and accepted that ‘there were shortcomings in the way that I managed the farm.’

Red Tractor is used by 78,000 farmers in the UK.

The label, which includes the British Retail Consortium and the National Farmers’ Union as founding partners, claims that farms it certifies are ‘regularly checked by independent experts to make sure [they are] of a good standard.’

It states that 450 inspectors carry out 60,000 inspections a year.

Footage obtained by Animal Equality, a vegan campaign group, also reportedly showed a worker swinging piglets by their back leg and smashing their heads against a wall. File image used 

Footage obtained by Animal Equality, a vegan campaign group, also reportedly showed a worker swinging piglets by their back leg and smashing their heads against a wall. File image used 

However, just 50 of last year’s inspections (0.08 per cent) were announced, according to The Times.

This means that farmers are nearly always warned in advance about the reviews, allowing them to clean up and remove dead or sick animals.

Farmers also pay for the inspections, which are carried out by private certification companies – and they are allowed to choose which company visits them.

Roughly 50 per cent of the inspections took place unannounced in response to claims of serious breaches of Red Tractor standards.

The other half were reportedly ‘sample farms to check compliance to our standards.’

Peter Stevenson, chief policy adviser of Compassion in World Farming, told The Times: ‘Farm inspections by Red Tractor and other assurance schemes must be unannounced.

‘If Red Tractor wants to be taken seriously it must substantially strengthen its welfare standards.’

The label had previously attempted to justify giving farmers notice of inspections because there were ‘health and safety and biosecurity concerns’ with turning up at a farm unannounced.

But it said that it was now considering increasing the number of unannounced inspections for next year.

Just 50 of last year's Red Tractor farm inspections (0.08 per cent) were announced, according to The Times 

Just 50 of last year’s Red Tractor farm inspections (0.08 per cent) were announced, according to The Times 

Earlier this month animal welfare activists from the campaign group Viva! Captured a sow being eaten alive by other pigs at Hogwood pig farm in Oxhill, Warwickshire.

They found the animals at the farm – which supplies pork to Tesco – were suffering from ‘extreme distress.’ The campaigners released footage including images that the Mail decided were too distressing to publish.

Chef Jamie Oliver has also risked the wrath of Britain’s farmers by saying he would not feed his children chicken which had been produced to the ‘Red Tractor’ standard.

Jim Moseley, Red Tractor’s chief executive, said: ‘When independently benchmarked against other global schemes, Red Tractor compares extremely favourably…The use of unannounced audits is likely to rise.’ 

He added: ‘We remain in a very competitive market and need to ensure that we don’t inadvertently switch UK consumers to more imported product where standards can be very different.’



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk