The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dismissed a complaint by vegan campaign group Viva! who believed an advert by Red Tractor 'did not guarantee animal welfare'.
Twenty-eight complainants and Viva! challenged whether the two ads, seen in September 2018, were misleading.
But Assured Food Standards (AFS), the organisation behind Red Tractor, said food and drink claiming to be part of the scheme could be traced from farm-to-fork and every stage of the supply chain was required to be certified to their standards.
They said robust on-farm standards based on scientific evidence, farming best practice and consumer demand were in place on Red Tractor certified farms, including substantial animal health and welfare standards.
And whilst no scheme could guarantee a particular level of welfare or that all food was risk-free, those standards were independently checked regularly by experts and the agreement farmers and food processors signed in order to be Red Tractor certified gave them access to their farm and business anytime unannounced.
The ASA dismissed the complaint, saying: “The words 'traceable, safe and farmed with care' were heard in both ads and we considered that viewers would interpret from those words, in addition to the words 'UK farmed, meticulously checked' and 'There are thousands of checks, thorough, widespread' in the ad that all of the scheme’s produce had been inspected thoroughly from the origin of production to ensure its safety for consumption.
“We recognised that what constituted an appropriate degree of animal welfare on farms was a subjective issue, but in the context of the ads we considered viewers would understand that the scheme had enforceable standards in place that went beyond those required for the farming of livestock.”
It is not the first time the ASA has had to deal with veganism and farming matters.
Viva! was ordered to amend an advert which 'misled' viewers into believing untruths about pig farming practices in the UK.
The campaign group was also told to stop its adverts which implied that drinking cow’s milk could cause cancer.
And a complaint from Viva! surrounding the AHDB Pork Midweek Meals campaign was dismissed by the ASA in April 2018.
