Recipe for disaster straight from the horse’s mouth - [Coalition reduce powers of the Food Standards Agency] - Scotsman.com

Recipe for disaster straight from the horse’s mouth - News - Scotsman.com: IT WAS the food scandal that launched a thousand puns. Revelations that beefburgers in the “value” ranges of several leading supermarkets contained horse DNA seemed to provoke more hilarity than horror.

The powers of the Food Standards Agency were reduced as part of the coalition’s bonfire of the quangos, and many local authorities have cut the number of checks they carry out as a result of the economic downturn.

The shadow environment secretary Mary ­Creagh said 700 trading standards officers had been axed and the meat inspection budget cut by £12m as part of the government’s austerity package.

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