Local authorities ran just half the number of food authenticity and labelling tests last year that they did five years ago, Department of Health figures have revealed.
The number of composition analyses - a key tool in the fight against food fraud - stood at just 16,982 from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 - down 47.9% on the 32,599 analyses run during the same period in 2008/9.
Labelling and presentation analyses, meanwhile, numbered just 9,958 in 2012/13 compared with 21,343 in 2008/9 - a drop of 53.3%.
In total, local authorities across the UK ran 83,935 food analyses in 2012/13, down 35.5% on the 130,223 run in 2008/9.
The figures were compiled by the Food Standards Authority and released by health minister Jane Ellison in response to a question by Labour MP Kerry McCarthy last week.
It is well known that food testing by local authorities has declined dramatically in the wake of government budget cuts. In October, a report by the National Audit Office into the horsemeat scandal warned that food sampling by local authorities had fallen by a quarter since 2009/10.
But the figures released by Ellison last week show the fall is sharper still when compared with testing levels five years ago.
McCarthy said this was cause for concern. “The drop in testing for composition is particularly alarming given the horsemeat scandal and recent reports which suggest consumers are being significantly misled as to what is in the food they are eating.”
A spokesman for the FSA said numbers were down because of budget cuts but stressed authorities had improved how sampling programmes were co-ordinated across the country. “This means that although there are fewer samples being taken, those that are taken are better targeted to potential problems.”
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