Red Tractor Traceability Challenge Programme

Ensuring Integrity Across the Food Supply Chain

The Red Tractor Traceability Challenge Programme is a vital part of Red Tractor’s commitment to food assurance and transparency. At processor and wholesale sites, the traceability challenges are unannounced. It is designed to verify that products carrying the Red Tractor logo or claim are traceable through every stage of the supply chain from the British farms to pack.

What is a Traceability Challenge

A Traceability Challenge (TC) is an assessment carried out at our licensed sites. It is not a full system audit, but rather a focused evaluation of the traceability systems in place. The goal is to ensure that:

Products marketed and sold with a Red Tractor claim are eligible to carry that claim.
Documentation accurately identifies Red Tractor claimed products.
Physical traceability can be demonstrated back to the farm(s) of origin.

Key Components of the Programme

Each Traceability Challenge includes:

Site Tour: A walkthrough of the facility to observe traceability processes in action.
Back to Farms Traces: Verifying that products can be traced back to their source farms.
Forward Traces: Ensuring traceability from the site to the customer.
Mass Balance Checks: Confirming that quantities of Red Tractor raw materials, waste, work-in-progress and finished products are accounted for throughout the site.

Why It Matters

Red Tractor’s Traceability Challenge Programme helps maintain consumer trust by:

Validating the authenticity of Red Tractor product claims.
Identifying and addressing weaknesses in traceability systems.
Supporting continuous improvement in supply chain integrity.

Non-Conformance and Improvement

While the Traceability Challenge is not a full system audit, it does allow for non-conformances to be raised. These are based on a checklist of traceability requirements and help our licensees improve their systems where needed.

Who Conducts the Challenges

Challenges are carried out by trained Red Tractor assessors. These professionals ensure that a thorough assessment of the traceability system at our licensees’ sites is carried out consistently.

Learn More

To explore the full checklist and guidance documents, visit Red Tractor Licensing.

Click the video to explore the importance of managing licensing and traceability for the Red Tractor brand.

Interested in learning more about our farms to pack story?

You can learn more about Red Tractor’s role by watching our “How Do They?” series of films that explores the journeys that farm produce takes before it reaches the consumer.

How do they grow delicious berries in Britain that meet world-leading standards?

Berry Gardens Growers, are a grower-owned co-operative that grow, and through Driscoll’s, pack around 60 million punnets of soft fruit each year that supply our supermarkets, food service and convenience outlets.

But the question is, how do they ensure that their blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries are grown, picked, transported, and packaged in a way that meets Red Tractor’s world-leading standards?

Follow their journey from farm to packhouse and learn all about the delicious Driscoll’s Victoria Blackberries, and how every drupelet (bumpy bit) is packed full of delicious juiciness.

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How do they turn Red Tractor Woolkeepers® wool into Hypnos Mattresses?

Award-winning British mattress manufacturer, Hypnos have been making luxury beds for over 100 years. As sleep experts, they know that wool is one of the best natural ingredients you can use in a mattress to ensure a comfortable night’s sleep.

But how do they ensure the wool they use in their mattresses is responsibly sourced?

Follow the journey from a Red Tractor assured sheep farm in Hertfordshire through the grading process and on to the Hypnos workshops, where luxurious mattresses are hand-crafted using traditional time-honoured skills. What’s more, learn how the whole process is managed via the Woolkeepers® platform in a way that meets Red Tractor’s world class standards.

For more information about Hypnos, visit their website.

Please note, Hypnos mattresses contain wool from a collective of Red Tractor assured farms. For the first time, these individual farmers know where their sheep’s wool will be used.

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How do they turn a British root vegetable into Red Tractor assured sugar?

You probably don’t give the origins of sugar a second thought when you’re folding it into your cake mix, spooning it into your morning coffee or sprinkling it on to your cereal – but did you know that it takes six sugar beets to make a 1kg bag of Silver Spoon sugar?

Approximately 1.5 million bags of Silver Spoon sugar are produced every day at the factory in Bury St Edmunds – with each stage of this seamless process following Red Tractor guidelines to guarantee a great quality, traceable product makes it into your morning cuppa.

Join us as we take a journey from field to factory and find out how it’s made.

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How do they put the Red Tractor wheat in Weetabix?

At the Weetabix factory in Northamptonshire, every biscuit is made with wheat farmed within 50 miles of the factory. Once it’s arrived, the wheat is tested, cleaned, flaked, shaped into Weetabix, baked and packaged ready to go to your local supermarket.

This huge production process runs smoothly thanks to the hard work from the team at Weetabix, but every element can also be traced through the Red Tractor assurance scheme to ensure that everything is meeting world-leading standards, all put in place to make sure you can enjoy a delicious and great quality product. Take a look and find out more.

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How do they turn British milk into Red Tractor assured cheddar cheese?

Join us in the West Country to find out how British milk is transformed into smooth cheddar – and meet the people producing this delicious cheese through traditional techniques and years of experience.

Since its beginnings over 50 years ago, Cathedral City cheddar cheese has been made to a unique recipe, using only the finest ingredients, the most important of which is high quality, fresh milk.

Sourced from dedicated farms in the South West of England, the milk used to make Cathedral City cheddar cheese is 100% British and its creamy richness and consistent high-quality help give the cheese its distinctive rich flavour.

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How do they turn black seeds into golden oil that’s traceable, safe and farmed with care?

Located in rural Suffolk, Hillfarm Oils grow, press and bottle rapeseed on the farm they’ve been working since the 1980s. Watch the video and meet Red Tractor farm member Sam Fairs to find out how their rapeseed oil is made. The whole process happens on site and every drop of golden oil meets Red Tractor’s strict criteria every step of the way.