The Red Tractor logo is set to appear on more products following the EU's approval of a funding package that also secured the future of the scheme.
The future of the scheme had been hanging in the balance since an application was made to Brussels for £500,000 of annual levy funding from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to promote it.
Funding for the scheme was reduced three years ago and since then administrator Assured Food Standards has been relying on its reserves to keep the scheme going.
Now the EU has approved the funding the ASF would be able to grow consumer awareness of the logo and work to get it on more products, said ASF chief executive David Clarke.
Promotion of the Red Tractor logo will now be carried out jointly by the British Poultry Council, ASF and AHDB.
"The synergies of those three should be quite exciting and take us to places we haven't been before," said Clarke. "One really interesting challenge for us is cereal products in general."
There had previously been difficulties in getting the Red Tractor logo onto bread products because of the changing origin of the grain used in them. However, Clarke said the funding would allow them to work with industry to overcome the problems.
Bpex also welcomed the decision, which it claimed would give assurance schemes working in other sectors more weight than before.
"By working together and everybody using the same fundamental message which is 'this product is safe and independently assured' we should get the buy-in from retailers and the public," said Bpex chairman Stewart Houston.
Last week, a survey for The Grocer revealed that many shoppers didn't understand what the Red Tractor mark meant, with only 45% correctly identifying what it stood for. Some 21% of shoppers admitted they had never even noticed the logo.
The future of the scheme had been hanging in the balance since an application was made to Brussels for £500,000 of annual levy funding from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board to promote it.
Funding for the scheme was reduced three years ago and since then administrator Assured Food Standards has been relying on its reserves to keep the scheme going.
Now the EU has approved the funding the ASF would be able to grow consumer awareness of the logo and work to get it on more products, said ASF chief executive David Clarke.
Promotion of the Red Tractor logo will now be carried out jointly by the British Poultry Council, ASF and AHDB.
"The synergies of those three should be quite exciting and take us to places we haven't been before," said Clarke. "One really interesting challenge for us is cereal products in general."
There had previously been difficulties in getting the Red Tractor logo onto bread products because of the changing origin of the grain used in them. However, Clarke said the funding would allow them to work with industry to overcome the problems.
Bpex also welcomed the decision, which it claimed would give assurance schemes working in other sectors more weight than before.
"By working together and everybody using the same fundamental message which is 'this product is safe and independently assured' we should get the buy-in from retailers and the public," said Bpex chairman Stewart Houston.
Last week, a survey for The Grocer revealed that many shoppers didn't understand what the Red Tractor mark meant, with only 45% correctly identifying what it stood for. Some 21% of shoppers admitted they had never even noticed the logo.
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