Food is one of the most important things we buy, so knowing what we're buying and having confidence in that is really important.

RSPCA Assured-labelled products are fully traceable from the supermarket shelf back to the farm.

Not only do we check all the details before a product is labelled, we also employ independent auditors and our own staff to check randomly selected supply chains of RSPCA Assured-labelled products.

Here's the low-down...

A product traceability check is when an RSPCA Assured-labelled product is traced from the shop shelf back through the supply chain to the farm it originated from - through the processor, packer and haulier.

These checks are conducted by independent auditors and our own staff.

For a product to be labelled RSPCA Assured it must have come from a  farm, haulier, processor and packer which have all met the RSPCA animal welfare standards.

All new RSPCA Assured scheme members receive a visit from an assessor to check they have systems in place ensuring incoming products or animals on the RSPCA Assured scheme are the same as those products or animals leaving as RSPCA Assured.

Our auditors check at least two producers each month and provide RSPCA Assured with evidence to show the chain from the supermarket shelf back to the scheme member(s).

Like all assurance schemes we're unable to trace every product, however we do as much as we can to ensure products are labelled correctly.

It is also the responsibility of the packer and the retailer to ensure labelling is accurate.