meat and poultry

The Co-operative meat

All meat and poultry sold under The Co-operative brand is produced from livestock reared to very strict standards of animal welfare.

All our British suppliers are independently audited and accredited to one of the national Farm Assurance Schemes controlled by Assured Food Standards, which allow the meat to display the Red Tractor Logo. These national schemes cover all aspects of farm assurance and animal welfare, including housing and stocking densities, feed and water, health and veterinary controls, breeding & traceability and transportation. 

 
Co-operative Food has supported higher animal welfare standards via schemes such as RSPCA Freedom Food accreditation and organic certification. We were the first retailer to adopt the RSPCA Freedom Food Scheme back in 1994 when we launched Freedom Food accredited Free Range Eggs and we still offer one of the largest ranges of Freedom Food labelled products in the UK including eggs, chicken, duck, lamb, salmon, ham, quiche, pizza, sandwiches, sausages and bacon.

British

As one of the UK’s largest farmers, we have always been strong supporters of the UK farming industry and have a policy of promoting meat and poultry sourced from animals reared in the UK. Where it is possible, the meat will be born, reared, processed and packed within the UK. This currently includes all fresh beef, pork, turkey, duck, chicken, trout, salmon and eggs. To maintain consistent product quality New Zealand lamb is used when British lamb is out of season. This still has to comply with the same standards of animal welfare and farm assurance as the UK sourced product and again is independently verified.

We view the provenance of ingredient supply as an issue of growing importance, our customer base is increasingly concerned with the origin of their foods or more correctly the ingredients used in their manufacture. We have listened to their concerns and responded by increasing the amount of British meat and poultry we sell.