Janet Street-Porter helps celebrate Red Tractor’s 10th birthday with 6ft tractor cake

Red Tractor, the independent and not-for-profit scheme run by Assured Food Standards, celebrated its 10^th birthday today at a ceremony on Londons Southbank. As part of Red Tractor Week, which runs from 14^th-20^th June, Janet Street Porter who is fronting the campaign was joined by Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman MP, and David Gregory, Chairman of Assured Food Standards, to cut a giant six-foot Red Tractor cake.

At the cutting of the cake, David Gregory of AFS, commented: We are delighted with the success of Red Tractor to date, which is now featured on 10bn worth of UK food and drink products1. Red Tractor Week provides a great platform for us to build on this and we have a host of activities planned to raise further awareness of the benefits Red Tractor offers for the industry and consumers. Were now looking forward to another decade of dynamic growth for Red Tractor.

Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman MP, added: Consumers can be confident about the products they are putting in their shopping baskets when they carry the Red Tractor logo.  It assures us that it is safe to eat and that high welfare standards have been followed. Id encourage people to keep looking out for the Red Tractor logo and to support high British standards of production.

The Government will also show its support through our commitment to ensure that food procured by government departments, and eventually the whole public sector, meets British standards of production wherever it can be done without increasing the overall cost.

For more information on Red Tractor and details of the scheme, please visit www.redtractor.org.uk.

Red Tractor Week is an effective communication platform for talking to consumers about how and where their food is produced.

Red Tractor Week helps food businesses demonstrate their commitment to supplying quality assured products and shows their support for great farming.

High profile supporters include the NFU, AHDB, Massey Ferguson, Wells and Youngs and the Three Counties Showground.

Major retailers, particularly Tesco and brands such as Silverspoon and Country Life are supporting Red Tractor Week.

Red Tractor foodservice, packing and processing companies including Sodexo and Brakes have also demonstrated their commitment to Red Tractor Week.

Red Tractor helps demonstrate the high standards followed by producers and gives consumers the assurance they need that the food they are buying meets strict standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection with a guarantee of origin.

The flag in the Red Tractor logo guarantees the origin of the food. So the Union Jack flag tells you that the product has been farmed, processed and packed in the UK.

The Red Tractor logo provides transparency for consumers and differentiates quality assured products.

Red Tractor standards are maintained all the way from farm to pack. All Red Tractor farmers, processors and packers are regularly inspected by independent experts who conduct thousands of audits each year.

AFS is owned by all links in the UK food chain from farmers to retailers.

The Board of AFS includes respected scientists, prominent academics and experienced professionals from the fields of veterinary science, farming, animal welfare, food processing, retailing and trading standards.

Red Tractor covers a wide range of food and drink including meat, vegetables, fruit, salads, milk, cheese, butter, sugar, beer and flour.

The Red Tractor logo now features on products with an annual retail sales value of 10 billion. All major retailers and more than 500 leading companies use the logo.

Standards for all sectors (e.g. chicken, dairy, vegetables etc.) have been developed and are regularly revised by some of the top industry experts to ensure that food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards are maintained appropriately and continually reflect consumer demand.

For Food businesses, Red Tractor reinforces their messaging to customers about the importance of assured quality, traceable, food that meets high standards of due diligence.