Red Tractor Lifetime Assurance August 6, 2015 12:00 am Red Tractor has confirmed its plans to move to lifetime assurance across the beef supply chain, however the move could take more than fouryears. Red Tractor’s consultation launched at the start of the year attracted over 200 responses, at the time it was contentious among many farmers especially for consulting on how lifetime assurance should be implemented and not if. The responses have now been reviewed by two independent experts who have reported that there is a clear consensus for a move towards lifetime assurance to protect the ‘integrity of the brand’. However there are also some ongoing concerns on how this will be achieved and communicated to the industry. The summary of the report can be found at http://assurance.redtractor.org.uk/resources/001/036/897/WLA_Final_report_web_summary.pdf Red Tractor has not set a target date for the requirement for Red Tractor beef to be lifetime assured, it will depend upon the uptake of the scheme and will only happen when there are sufficient supplies of assured cattle within the supply chain; it acknowledges this could take three to four years. The process will begin with the introduction of a self assessed cattle rearing register. Currently animals must be on assured farms for 90 days to be labelled Red Tractor. However Pigs and Poultry schemes have already moved to lifetime assurance. Currently there are no plans to introduce it in the sheep sector.
