On Wednesday, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) urged Defra to give full and careful consideration to the role of vets in protecting animal and human health and ensuring food safety in response to recommendations made by officials on slashing 'red tape'.

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Responding to the recommendations, BVA President John Blackwell urged ministers to consider the "long term-consequences [of any decision], not simply short-term expediency." Mr Blackwell continued, "Cuts cannot come at the expense of animal welfare and health, which if compromised can have serious consequences for human health and food production.

"Defra works closely with vets and is aware of the critical role vets play in disease surveillance – Defra's own survey highlights that local vets are a trusted source of key information to their clients and this is fundamental to ensuring robust disease control and eradication strategies."

The BVA president added, "If these reports are true, our message to Defra is don't downgrade the role of vets in food safety and animal health and welfare. It is important to stress that any attempt to reduce regulation by government should not increase risk by reducing the pivotal role vets carry out in public health and food safety, alongside animal health and welfare."

According to food policy experts, the recent horsemeat scandal, repercussions of which were felt around almost the entire food industry, stemmed from failings in corporate food governance. Countering the official narrative that criminal elements have moved into food crime as a 'soft option' in recent years, experts such as City University's Professer Tim Lang have said the implications of the scandal go far beyond food fraud.

Responding to the findings of the government-commissioned Elliott Review in December, the City University Professor said the report "Tells a sorry tale of how public functions that protect our food have been cut and so fail us… This is being enacted, let's not forget, in the name of the Coalition government's obsession about cutting the state to pay for the private sector's banking crisis. Above all, this is a tale of crime and fraud filling a gap created by political choices."

Prof Lang continued "The horsemeat scandal wasn't about horsemeat. It was about passing off horsemeat as higher graded and priced meats... It’s a 21st-century version of something commonplace in the 19th century."