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[Simon]

Source: http://observer.guar...1514494,00.html

Leading food groups are setting up a food safety watchdog in an industry-funded effort to keep contaminated and potentially harmful products off supermarket shelves.

The new inspectorate is the idea of Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier Foods, which was at the centre of a high-profile health scare earlier this year. The carcinogenic dye Sudan 1 was detected in one of its sauces, and this led to the recall of thousands of ready meals and processed foods.

Schofield has enlisted the backing of Northern Foods, Uniq and other major companies for the new regulator, which the firms hope will help them avoid further costly scares. It will cost at least £2 million a year to run and consist of an international team of inspectors visiting suppliers in the developing world and conducting food tests on site.

The Food Standards Agency does not test food and currently there is no system for checking ingredients for contamination at source. The Sudan I episode is thought to have originated in a batch of contaminated chillies supplied from India, and a separate scare involving Para Red, another illegal dye, was traced to tainted spices from Uzbekistan.

Food safety will be the new inspectorate's primary function, but it will also be expected to check that suppliers do not engage in other abuses, such as use of child labour.