What if a farmer is in an assurance scheme?
Farm assurance scheme standards are there to ensure that consumers and the trade have confidence that produce is of a high standard. Many scheme standards go beyond the legal requirements. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recognises membership of farm assurance schemes in the risk rating and farmers signed up to farm assurance schemes can typically expect to receive inspections at a lower frequency than non-members, although this will also depend on other factors such as inspection outcomes and complaints received. A two-year pilot is currently underway in Scotland to examine the relationship between membership of assurance schemes and levels of compliance.
