Red Tractor start 2023 with another embarassment😂

[Steevo]

Has anyone sent the picture to the fw?

@AM_Arable

 

[neilo]

Someone somewhere isn’t doing there job then.

Yes, at the Co-Op, or more likely their supplier.

Someone, either by mistake or deliberately, at the packing house has put foreign (obviously not RT) apples in packaging that carries the RT logo.

 

[7610 super q]

No different to me slapping a sticker on my grain passport after I've stopped paying and left the scheme ?
It's fraudulent. RT would be quick enough to suspend me for devious activities, so why not the CO OP and / or packer ?

 

[neilo]

Well they didn’t say much at the time of the horse meat lasagne scandal because they were worried rt ‘beef’ might have been involved.

I don’t expect much to come of the coop lying to its customer either.

As with horsemeat lasagne, it’s not in any retailer’s interest to make a big thing of it. If forced, their PR dept will come up with a short statement blaming a clerical error (which it likely was) or such like, and it will be brushed under the carpet as quickly as possible. 99.9% of their customers really won’t care anyway.

 

[Farma Parma]

After we put the sticker on our grain passport it is tipped at the docks and all the passport copies are handed to the master of the grain bulker who promptly throws them over the side of the ship.. unloads in country B... his mate reloads from country B without the little red sticker and drops a load of soya off back in the uk which gets sent to the same mills? Therefore the little red sticker means nothing??

meanwhile weve all been shafted to comply along the way.
Biggest rip off in farming history & were forced this route unfortunatly

 

[Farma Parma]

too help all our moans about this on here ive messaged the COOP directly just a few mins ago along with the image so lets see what if any sort of reply i get.
I'll upload it on here in due course.

 

[neilo]

I would suggest that trying to say this is somehow RT’s fault does the campaign to change/dismantle RT no favours at all. It just comes across as a bunch of farmers ranting to me.

It would do the cause far more good to put a clear, coherent case as to why it’s not fit for purpose, rather than shaking pitchforks at the door of the CoOp for what is clearly a packaging error somewhere.

 

[Wombat]

'Lessons learned'... 'staff member: promoted to other roles, sent on sabbatical, miscalculation in professional oversight requiring a review of procedures....etc'

I thought of exactly the same quote last night. Lessons will be learnt, otherwise know as the 21st century copout

 

[Hindsight]

From my days in veg packing this is every packers fear. Wrong labelling. The preprinted forming packs to blame. Then all the operator does is change the text to be printed on the blank space. The packing head I guess has been running with correct RT produce and changed to a non RT product (German Apples) but some one failed to change the preprinted packing plastic. Or I wonder if another packing head was running with the German Apples in a non RT preformed plastic line and broke down leading to a switch of packing heads. But should then have been picked up in the QC procedure. But wasn't - or was and pushed through. Hey ho.

 

[Richard Budd]

Being a Red Tractor apple supplier to the major multiples I can tell you this would be my worst nightmare, as much as I dont like Red Tractor and would like to see them cut down to size, this is not the fault of Red Tractor, there are two sceanarios here that could have led to this situation occuring, both of which are likely to have serious implications for the packhouse involved.
1. This is British Fruit (I hope so as we are in the midst of the UK season and there is plenty of Braeburn in cold store at present), someone has then entered the wrong country of origin on the flow wrap printer, this should have been checked three times - once by the QC before the packing run starts, and once at the end of the run, the fruit should then have gone through a final check before dispatch.
2. This is German fruit and again this is down to human error in the packhouse, someone has picked up a UK spec film, and packed foreign fruit into it, again should have been picked up in the various QC checks. We don't pack foreign fruit, but I know other packhouses find it a complete nightmare as the packaging is often very similar, with just a very small union jack flag and red tractor symbol being the difference between UK and generic packaging.
The packaging would have been approved by Co-Op, but control of its purchase and use would be down to the individual packhouse, so in this case its not the fault of RT or CooP, unfortunately some supplier is about to get roasted, and no doubt lead to full produce recall and huge costs to the packhouse involved.
Slightly alarmed at the vitriol expressed in the replies to this thread, its not doing our industry any good trying to get Red Tractor made more relevant or fit for purpose - which I want as much as the next farmer.

 

[Spencer]

Being a Red Tractor apple supplier to the major multiples I can tell you this would be my worst nightmare, as much as I dont like Red Tractor and would like to see them cut down to size, this is not the fault of Red Tractor, there are two sceanarios here that could have led to this situation occuring, both of which are likely to have serious implications for the packhouse involved.
1. This is British Fruit (I hope so as we are in the midst of the UK season and there is plenty of Braeburn in cold store at present), someone has then entered the wrong country of origin on the flow wrap printer, this should have been checked three times - once by the QC before the packing run starts, and once at the end of the run, the fruit should then have gone through a final check before dispatch.
2. This is German fruit and again this is down to human error in the packhouse, someone has picked up a UK spec film, and packed foreign fruit into it, again should have been picked up in the various QC checks. We don't pack foreign fruit, but I know other packhouses find it a complete nightmare as the packaging is often very similar, with just a very small union jack flag and red tractor symbol being the difference between UK and generic packaging.
The packaging would have been approved by Co-Op, but control of its purchase and use would be down to the individual packhouse, so in this case its not the fault of RT or CooP, unfortunately some supplier is about to get roasted, and no doubt lead to full produce recall and huge costs to the packhouse involved.
Slightly alarmed at the vitriol expressed in the replies to this thread, its not doing our industry any good trying to get Red Tractor made more relevant or fit for purpose - which I want as much as the next farmer.

On balance id say you are probably quite correct.
The "vitriol" as you suggest just shows the level of frustration felt by farmers towards a scheme set up by a body who are supposed to help us not hinder/control us. This is a chat forum remember, not PMQ's!

 

[Richard Budd]

On balance id say you are probably quite correct.
The "vitriol" as you suggest just shows the level of frustration felt by farmers towards a scheme set up by a body who are supposed to help us not hinder/control us. This is a chat forum remember, not PMQ's!

I understand the frustration and I want reform as much as the next guy, but this is out the control of Red Tractor in this case. I was only expressing my opinion that we need to be careful that we do not give Red Tractor easy scores to come back at farmers, when we try and call them out and it is not directly in their control.......that said there is plenty of mileage in attacking Red Tractor for the additional charges they charge grower packhouses like ourselves for their marque on the packaging, despite we have no control over this.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

meanwhile weve all been shafted to comply along the way.
Biggest rip off in farming history & were forced this route unfortunatly

Biggest ripoff since the tithe.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I would suggest that trying to say this is somehow RT’s fault does the campaign to change/dismantle RT no favours at all. It just comes across as a bunch of farmers ranting to me.

It would do the cause far more good to put a clear, coherent case as to why it’s not fit for purpose, rather than shaking pitchforks at the door of the CoOp for what is clearly a packaging error somewhere.

What about a clerical error on your spray records leading to a non conformance?

 

[Farma Parma]

As with horsemeat lasagne, it’s not in any retailer’s interest to make a big thing of it. If forced, their PR dept will come up with a short statement blaming a clerical error (which it likely was) or such like, and it will be brushed under the carpet as quickly as possible. 99.9% of their customers really won’t care anyway.

we all know thats about what will happen. but it shouldnt happen in the first place

 

[Wesley]

What about a clerical error on your spray records leading to a non conformance?

Why can so few people understand Red Tractor don’t print the labels or pack the apples Its totally beyond their control. They’re not the ones who made the mistake. They may have approved the packaging, but not the part that says Germany which would be printed afterwards. But its there place to sort it out.

 

[tullah]

After we put the sticker on our grain passport it is tipped at the docks and all the passport copies are handed to the master of the grain bulker who promptly throws them over the side of the ship.. unloads in country B... his mate reloads from country B without the little red sticker and drops a load of soya off back in the uk which gets sent to the same mills? Therefore the little red sticker means nothing??

A money making circle for somebody. Might that be the non farming union and dead tractor?

 

[7610 super q]

Why can so few people understand Red Tractor don’t print the labels or pack the apples Its totally beyond their control. They’re not the ones who made the mistake. They may have approved the packaging, but not the part that says Germany which would be printed afterwards. But its there place to sort it out.

Their logo, buck stops with Red Tractor,
Can't believe we're all too scared to point out RT's mistakes.
Getting more like the Mafia every day..............

 

[neilo]

Their logo, buck stops with Red Tractor,
Can't believe we're all too scared to point out RT's mistakes.
Getting more like the Mafia every day..............

Because it's not RT's mistake.

 

[Huno]

I would suggest that trying to say this is somehow RT’s fault does the campaign to change/dismantle RT no favours at all. It just comes across as a bunch of farmers ranting to me.

It would do the cause far more good to put a clear, coherent case as to why it’s not fit for purpose, rather than shaking pitchforks at the door of the CoOp for what is clearly a packaging error somewhere.

Can we stamp the red tractor on NZ and Auzzie lamb when it starts pouring into our shores??