Responding to the ongoing investigations surrounding horse meat in meat products, David Clarke, CEO of Red Tractor Assurance said: “We have followed the developments with interest over the past three or four weeks and we are encouraged that no Red Tractor products have been implicated. Nevertheless we are writing to Red Tractor licensees to remind them of their responsibilities and the rules which underpin the Red Tractor logo.
“We have made it clear that the only beef used in Red Tractor labelled products must be from farms certified in the Red Tractor scheme. We are also warning them to take every care to ensure that the only animal protein contained in a meat product should be that which is listed on the label. It is the licensee’s responsibility to avoid any contamination from proteins foreign to the product.
“Any deviation from these rules will result in the licensee being removed from the Red Tractor scheme.
“Consumers have embraced the Red Tractor Assurance Scheme in recent weeks. They are reassured that the independent inspections delivered by Red Tractor, more than 60,000 inspections each year on UK farms and in UK factories, gives an assurance of proper standards throughout the supply chain.”
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