Barbara Bray MBE appointed chair of Red Tractor Fresh Produce Technical Advisory Committee to enhance food safety standards
Nuffield Scholar and leading nutritionist Barbara Bray MBE has been appointed as the new chair of the Red Tractor Fresh Produce Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
She joins a new group of industry experts on the committee who represent the whole fruit and vegetable supply chain, including growers, packers, and senior consultants.
Supported by Red Tractor Fresh Produce technical manager, Sam Trevey, the TAC is due to meet in June to begin work on reviewing and strengthening food safety aspects of the fresh produce standards. Their work will support Red Tractor’s core purpose of being standards for British food “that everyone can trust”.
A key part of the TAC’s work will be to develop and strengthen food safety standards for high-risk produce following a request from the British Leafy Salads Association and Chilled Food Association, prompted by last year’s STEC E. coli outbreak, associated with lettuce in pre-packaged sandwiches.
Red Tractor says it has already made “significant progress” in the past year to improve the value of its fresh produce standards to members.
An update published on 1 February 2025 saw a refreshed benchmark against the latest version of GlobalGAP, a crucial piece of work to avoid audit duplication and enable optional bolt-on modules.
This also enabled Red Tractor to achieve a ‘Gold’ benchmark against SAI Platform Farm Sustainability Assessment v3.0, which it says demonstrates a commitment to meeting food customers’ increasingly important sustainability criteria.
Bray commented: “I’m pleased to have joined the Red Tractor Fresh Produce Technical Advisory Committee at such a key time for the organisation. As outlined in its response to the Farm Assurance Review, Red Tractor has entered a period of change and is committed to rebuilding and strengthening farmer trust in its standards development process.
“I will ensure all voices in our sector are heard as the TAC undertakes the review of food safety standards and welcome all ideas that strengthen the trust in UK food.
“Sam Trevey and I will also be attending FPJ’s upcoming Festival of Fresh and other industry events, and I would encourage all interested in food safety to speak to us about the TAC’s work.”
