About Red Tractor About Red Tractor

Who we are

Assured Food Standards, better known as Red Tractor, is an independent not-for-profit farm and food assurance company.

Established in 2000 after a spate of food scares which included BSE and outbreaks of salmonella, Red Tractor was created to transform and rebuild consumer trust in British farming and food quality. Today, we are the UK’s largest food standards scheme and the only one to cover food production from animal welfare, food safety, traceability and environmental protection from farm to pack.

Over two decades we have continued to evolve our standards to improve food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection, so that they are now among the best in the world.

What we do

We operate a whole-chain food assurance scheme starting at UK farms and covering transport, livestock markets, food processing and packing. This length, breadth and depth of sectors and standards is unparalleled by any other UK food assurance scheme. The Red Tractor standards have been recognised as world-leading* and our in-house technical team are constantly evolving them in collaboration with scientists and independent experts from all sectors and stages of the UK food chain.

For the food industry, we provide a buying specification across the entire food chain that is robust and independently certified to ensure compliance. Most UK supermarkets use Red Tractor standards as part of their buying specification and show the logo on pack. A number of household food brands and leading Food Service, Wholesalers and Operators are also Red Tractor licensees.

The Red Tractor logo tells UK consumers that the product has been farmed, processed and packed in the UK in a way that is traceable, safe and farmed with care.

*Source: Independent report commissioned by Red Tractor in 2019

What our standards cover

In order for food and drink to carry the Red Tractor logo, or for a food business to make claims about Red Tractor, the whole supply chain must be checked against our standards by independent inspectors at every stage from farm to pack.

Starting at farm, Red Tractor sets standards across most primary agriculture sectors (excluding fish and eggs) and for most UK farming systems such as indoor and free range chicken production. As a whole-chain scheme, we also have standards for all steps in the food production chain including transport, livestock markets, food processing and packing.

Find out more about the farming sectors and systems we currently cover directly on our Red Tractor Standards page. You can also discover more about the eligibility criteria you need to meet at your site on our Red Tractor Licence Types and Requirements page.