Food Tracer: tracking sources and producers of food

The Tracing Paper > Food Tracer: tracking sources and producers of food

Food Tracer is a growing collection of resources to help identify the origins of the food we eat. These resources can help make sense of EU identification marks, the codes found on all EU meat or dairy products, and track down further information and news about food producers and processors.

Food tracer resources

The Tracing Paper is developing resources to provide accessible information on the sources of our food:

UK Supermarket Distribution Centres
Partial but growing listing of food distribution centres, depots and hubs
UK food manufacturers
Partial but growing listing of food production, processing, manufacture and distribution sites
UK Abattoirs / Slaughterhouses
Complete listing of all abattoirs in the UK with EC approval codes
UK Meat Cutting Plants
Complete listing of all meat cutting plants in the UK with EC approval codes
UK Dairies / Milk Processors
Complete listing of all milk processors in the UK with EU identification codes
UK Meat Product Producers
Complete listing of all producers of meat products in the UK with EU identification codes
EC Food Identification Mark: National Codes
Listing national codes for every EU country, with links to individual national databases of approved premises
UK Organic Certification Bodies

Searching for the origins of food

The Tracing Paper provides specialist food searches to track down news and information on the production of our food:

European food agency search – searching the 32 national food agencies of the European Union and associated countries, for food policy, reports and official records, including approved food production establishments.
UK food industry search – searching dozens of carefully chosen authoritative websites for food industry information and news
UK food search – searching over 200 British popular food websites, including over 150 British food blogs.

Decode your food

Decode European food marks in three easy steps:

Find the EU identification mark code on any EU meat or dairy product
Enter the code in the European food agency search to find the corresponding food producer and site – or just use the Tracing Paper’s site search (top right of every page) to search our listings of UK premises
Use The Tracing Paper’s custom Food Industry Search to find further information on your food’s producer – or just follow the custom search link from the Food Tracer’s abattoir, dairy and meat producer listings

Now improved!

The Tracing Paper’s listings of abattoirs and milk processors have been extended to cover all of the UK and split into regions for easier access, with an improved custom food industry search for further information on businesses and meat industry news.