British Sourcing

Supplying British Food

Sourcing from Britain can reduce food miles, benefit the environment and, by sourcing the best products from the best suppliers at the best time, strengthen our product offer for customers. We currently have over 800 British products to choose from in our own brand ranges.

British produce

We are passionate about fruit and vegetables and our fresh produce specialist, Pauleys is a corporate member of LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming). Our fresh produce range carries over 130 Red Tractor Farm assured products with 51% of all fruit and vegetables, supplied by Pauleys, sourced from Britain. This is well above the DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs) average of 31% and means in certain seasons some products are only available from British farms.

British fish

Through our fresh fish specialist, M&J Seafood, we lead the field in sustainable fishing and responsible aquaculture. Part of this vision includes the sourcing of fish and seafood from Britain. In addition to a national offering, each of M&J Seafood's depots source fish landed at their local regional port, which supports local fishing communities up and down the country

British meat & poultry

Our specialist meat and poultry supplier is Prime Meats, and the strength of our support for British farming is reflected in the fact that 70% of our Prime Meats product range comes from British Farms and half of the lamb offering carries the Welsh Lamb label. The recent addition of Red Tractor Farm Assured bacon to the range gives customers the option to source 100% of their meat from the UK.

British dairy

We source much of our dairy from the UK and all of our milk and cream. Additionally all shell eggs, scrambled mix and liquid egg carry the British Lion Quality Mark. We have also recently launched a 100% British ice cream range.

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Promoting British food

We are actively involved with groups and events that shape the direction of British food. Here are just a few examples:

NFU (National Farmers Union)

Red Tractor Farm Assured  We are working with the NFU to recognise and award customers' procurement of Red Tractor Farm Assured Food, and to promote British suppliers with an aim to increase our customers’ commitment to British food.

London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games

We are helping to create the criteria for food sourced for the 2012 Olympics. In particular we are part of a seafood working group issuing the guidelines on sourcing fish and seafood.

DEFRA

Eat Seasonably encouraging an increase awareness of where food comes from Brakes Group support this initiative.

Food 2030

Food 2030, the Government’s new food strategy, it is the first of its kind in over 50 years. It sets out the Government’s vision of what the food system will look like in 2030 and how to get there.

We regularly meet with DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) & EFFP (English Farming and Food Partnerships to support the success of Food 2030.

British Food Fortnight

We have supported this annual event for the last three years, promoting British products throughout the period and providing a platform to communicate key messages to our customers.

SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval)

SALSA is a food safety certification scheme for micro to small-sized producers. Recognising the importance of locally and regionally sourced food, we are engaged in creating standards that will help smaller food producers trade with large foodservice operations from a local base.

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Red Tractor

Red Tractor is an independent mark of quality that ensures meat and produce comes from UK farms that meet defined standards of food safety and hygiene, animal welfare and environmental protection. It also guarantees that food can be traced back to its source.

We were the first foodservice company to offer Red Tractor Farm Assured products to our customers in 2007. We now have over 300 products carrying the Red Tractor mark.

We are committed to growing Red Tractor product sales by 20% from 2010 to 2012.

Achieved early. We grew Red Tractor product sales by 25% during 2011 (full year comparison to 2010).

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British Skipper Scheme

For some communities fishing is a way of life and has shaped towns and families for centuries. Ensuring its continued success is a priority for us and the fishermen. The British Skipper Scheme helps to connect suppliers and fishermen and enables our fresh fish specialist, M&J Seafood, to tell over 300 chefs across Britain what the catch is while the boats are still at sea. Chefs can reserve their orders in advance which ensures revenue at a fair price for the skippers before the boat even lands.

There are currently 30 boats from Scotland to the South West Coast  involved in the British Skippers Scheme and we aim to extend this in 2012 by incorporating boats from the East Coast.

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Lion Quality Eggs

The Lion Quality Mark guarantees all our shell eggs are from British farms and have been produced to strictly-controlled standards of food safety and animal welfare.

A registration and 'passport' system also ensures complete traceability of all eggs, hens and feed.

We are a key supporter of this initiative and all our shell eggs, scrambled egg mix whole liquid egg and liquid egg yolk are from British farms and meet the Lion Quality Standard.

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