Red Tractor liars

[Old Boar]

Update No 2:- As there was no response from the two phone calls I thought it better to put it in writing, so using their on line form, asked the same question, giving the bar code as before.

First response from Tesco - I'm more than happy to help, but unfortunately I can't locate any products with the code you've given us. Can you send me a picture of the packaging showing the barcode, SC code (found by the Tesco details) and the date codes?

I sent the photos.

Second response - I would advise to please return to store with the receipt and packaging and my colleagues will be able to fill out the appropriate paperwork with you to pass this onto the suppliers to find out some further information.

I responded both barrels. A receipt has nothing to do with the product manufacturing. No, I would not go in store as they would just pass it to the same team that just responded by email.

Third response - they could not read the codes on the photos (I could!) but could I phone and give them the code.

As I had done this twice, a curt email went back with the pics pushed through Gimp and enhanced.

Tesco, if you are reading this, you had better know a friend said I am so stubborn that when I dig my heels in, all you can see is the top of my head. I can play this game longer than you can.

 

[Old Boar]

Not long after posting the above, a lovely lady from Tesco phoned and apologised for all the to'ing and fro'ing and will contact me on Sunday with what she has found. She looked up the Red Tractor tweet while on the phone to see what I was after. Watch this space...

 

[Grass And Grain]

Not long after posting the above, a lovely lady from Tesco phoned and apologised for all the to'ing and fro'ing and will contact me on Sunday with what she has found. She looked up the Red Tractor tweet while on the phone to see what I was after. Watch this space...

Keep going Old Boar.

They might be able to trace it back to a farm, but if it had come from a central store there'd be no chance.

Was talking to someone who used to work at a flour millers. The mill he worked at would only put one lorry load into a bin, and empty the bin before next lorry load. For traceability.

That said, if the mill is blending different wheat to get the blend quality they want, then it will be from different farms won't it.

Can only uphold the RT claims if it is not a blend. Then they've got to have traceability.

They could just tell porky pies of course.

If said mill has large holding bins, then more likely mixed up from several farms. As opposed to 30t bins.

We could do to get you on to finding out about imported grain. What tests have been done on it, and if they have any traceability records.

 

[Clive]

Keep going Old Boar.

They might be able to trace it back to a farm, but if it had come from a central store there'd be no chance.

Was talking to someone who used to work at a flour millers. The mill he worked at would only put one lorry load into a bin, and empty the bin before next lorry load. For traceability.

That said, if the mill is blending different wheat to get the blend quality they want, then it will be from different farms won't it.

Can only uphold the RT claims if it is not a blend. Then they've got to have traceability.

They could just tell porky pies of course.

If said mill has large holding bins, then more likely mixed up from several farms. As opposed to 30t bins.

We could do to get you on to finding out about imported grain. What tests have been done on it, and if they have any traceability records.

we ran 13 bulk grain trucks for 10 year - never did i come across a mill that didn’t mix loads in bins

some kept varieties separated so tey could blend tome product

hardly any flour is from single source - its blended for consistently like cheap scotch!

 

[Grass And Grain]

we ran 13 bulk grain trucks for 10 year - never did i come across a mill that didn’t mix loads in bins

some kept varieties separated so tey could blend tome product

hardly any flour is from single source - its blended for consistently like cheap scotch!

Do the mills get a RT audit (if they want to use the logo)?
If so, if there isn't a check on traceability procedures, then the RT claims are likely to be incorrect.

And thats before we get into the central storage nugget.

 

[Clive]

Do the mills get a RT audit (if they want to use the logo)?
If so, if there isn't a check on traceability procedures, then the RT claims are likely to be incorrect.

And thats before we get into the central storage nugget.

hauliers and mills had to be tassc or gtas assured - easier than farm assurance as a store and haulier ime, mostly paper trails

gtas no longer exists but i recall it came along when Tassc got to onerous and expensive

 

[Old Boar]

Nothing more from Tesco - sent a rather carefully worded email again today with my "case" number telling them I was rather more than unimpressed.
They are not doing themselves any favours if they cannot answer a fairly simple "where does this come from" question.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Nothing more from Tesco - sent a rather carefully worded email again today with my "case" number telling them I was rather more than unimpressed.
They are not doing themselves any favours if they cannot answer a fairly simple "where does this come from" question.

Probably can’t answer your question so keeping quiet hoping you’ll go away

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Nothing more from Tesco - sent a rather carefully worded email again today with my "case" number telling them I was rather more than unimpressed.
They are not doing themselves any favours if they cannot answer a fairly simple "where does this come from" question.

I'm having the same with Lidl.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

From the dead tractor website:

Build customer trust, protect your reputation
Only produce from British Red Tractor certified farms can hold the Red Tractor logo. This means it can be traced right back through the supply chain to the British farms it came from.

 

[B R C]

With the good work that @Old Boar and @Humble Village Farmer are doing if there is no traceability evidenced then surely taking that to advertising standards is the next step….

 

[Chris F]

Nothing more from Tesco - sent a rather carefully worded email again today with my "case" number telling them I was rather more than unimpressed.
They are not doing themselves any favours if they cannot answer a fairly simple "where does this come from" question.

Since RT state it is tracable back to farm, if Tesco's can not, then is this not a Trading standards issue? They clearly don't know exactly what is in the flour and they are supposed to, if using the RT logo.

So two options, if RT are telling the truth, then Tescos are breaking trading standards or something else. If Tesco's are telling the truth, RT are breaking ASA rules. I'd suggest you report them both to both organisations, as one of them is doing something wrong. It's not exactly the horsemeat scandle, but there is a lot of money involved.

 

[Old Boar]

I got fed up with waiting for Tesco to come back to me, so I phoned. Three times. Their phone tree was not working so when they said to press 3, nothing happened, and the choices went on...and on...and then they cut you off. I reported it by phoning another number.

Jamie apologised for the non response and said they would get on it. He went off for some time and said someone would email me. They did with this response:-
still getting this looked into with our Product Technical Managers.

Now call me cynical, but they should have the answer by now. I have the feeling they are in contact with RT and are trying to come up with a response that will not drop them in it.

Watch this space....

 

[theboytheboy]

I got fed up with waiting for Tesco to come back to me, so I phoned. Three times. Their phone tree was not working so when they said to press 3, nothing happened, and the choices went on...and on...and then they cut you off. I reported it by phoning another number.

Jamie apologised for the non response and said they would get on it. He went off for some time and said someone would email me. They did with this response:-
still getting this looked into with our Product Technical Managers.

Now call me cynical, but they should have the answer by now. I have the feeling they are in contact with RT and are trying to come up with a response that will not drop them in it.

Watch this space....

would you consider drafting a template based on your existing query that is edited to consider/factor in your experience so far?

we could all start sending our own email's basically asking the same thing and target multiple outlets.

 

[Old Boar]

Initial contact:-
Feedback or Query Details
>> Red Tractor recently stated that all the flour with the Red Tractor label is traceable from farm to pack. Last Thursday I telephoned the help desk at Tesco and asked if they could trace the packet of Self Raising flour I had bought and gave the lovely man the bar code. He said he would phone me back but did not. I telephoned again yesterday and asked the same question as there was no trace of my prevous call. So far I have not had a response. The bag in question has the code 0000119 004048. I would be grateful if you could tell me which farm this wheat came from. Thank you.

 

[Grass And Grain]

I got fed up with waiting for Tesco to come back to me, so I phoned. Three times. Their phone tree was not working so when they said to press 3, nothing happened, and the choices went on...and on...and then they cut you off. I reported it by phoning another number.

Jamie apologised for the non response and said they would get on it. He went off for some time and said someone would email me. They did with this response:-
still getting this looked into with our Product Technical Managers.

Now call me cynical, but they should have the answer by now. I have the feeling they are in contact with RT and are trying to come up with a response that will not drop them in it.

Watch this space....

Shouldn't take them long to find the answer should it.

Ring their supplier, they check their traceability records, then tell us which farm it was.

That is if the flour wasn't a blend of different specs, and if it was only made from a single spec of wheat from a single farm, they'll need bins which only hold one 29t load of wheat, and need to make sure it is totally empty before tipping the next load in.

 

[Drillman]

Shouldn't take them long to find the answer should it.

That is if the flour wasn't a blend of different specs, and if it was only made from a single spec of wheat from a single farm, they'll need bins which only hold one 29t load of wheat, and need to make sure it is totally empty before tipping the next load in.

And if it isn’t There Traceability isn’t worth the paper the silly logo is printed on!

 

[tullah]

And if it isn’t There Traceability isn’t worth the paper the silly logo is printed on!

And what's so funny is the non farming union actually own and back the gravy train, knowing full well it's all a fraud.
The ordinary members can't do anything about it unless the leave these organisations because the guys in charge have rather large conflict of interest. A nice one for the lawyers to battle out.

 

[Clive]

I got fed up with waiting for Tesco to come back to me, so I phoned. Three times. Their phone tree was not working so when they said to press 3, nothing happened, and the choices went on...and on...and then they cut you off. I reported it by phoning another number.

Jamie apologised for the non response and said they would get on it. He went off for some time and said someone would email me. They did with this response:-
still getting this looked into with our Product Technical Managers.

Now call me cynical, but they should have the answer by now. I have the feeling they are in contact with RT and are trying to come up with a response that will not drop them in it.

Watch this space....

I think we may have them here - Tesco will not be happy with red tractor and ASA have a solid breach

I have Tesco top management here on the 29th to talk regen ag and carbon …….. would love to be able to discuss this with them on that day

 

[Two Tone]

I was rather interested to see the ITN news last night reporting on Soya from Brazilian destroyed rainforest being mixed with legit Soya by the likes of Cargill, the owners of Frontier, to feed U.K. Dairy cattle, to make milk for many well known brands such Cadburys and Cathedral City cheese.

What interested me is that isn’t this is akin to exactly what is happened to all foreign non assured grain, suddenly becoming RT assured?
When are ITN going to report on this?