Farming chief calls for meat watchdog

A CAMPAIGNING South Lakes farmer has called for a new watchdog to regulate the industry's middlemen in the wake of supermarket recalls on batches of lamb and offal.

Cumbria's National Farmers' Union chairman Trevor Wilson, of Low Bankside Farm, Cartmel, also wants increased red tape on non-EU foreign meat imports, which he claims may not be safe to eat.

It comes as the Food Standards Agency's Meat Hygiene Service is investigating an alleged food safety breach at Kirkby Stephen where breeding sheep, not fit for the human food chain, could have been sold to distributor Welsh Country Foods.