Clive Beddall The multiples face the prospect of another searching investigation into their trading powers ­ just months after being cleared by the Competition Commission of excessive profiteering. That became clear as The Grocer went to press when senior Whitehall sources predicted Tony Blair will demand an inquiry into UK food production methods, and the home produced meat chain in particular, once the foot and mouth epidemic is over. The forecasts came days after the pm angered retailers by telling a Labour meeting in Gloucestershire that the farmers were held in an "armlock" by the supermarkets. Although Labour sources have since been at pains to emphasise this was "an off-the-cuff, unscripted remark", the pm's comment has resurrected the Rip-off in grocery affair with consumer groups and politicians calling for a new probe into the way the multiples deal with farmers. There are also predictions an inquiry could focus on the food chain's "just in time" systems, a review prompted not only by the foot and mouth outbreak but a suggestion that supply problems caused by the recent fuel dispute had meant rationing was "only days away". One theory is that the PM could order MAFF to look into the home meat production chain and the power of the multiples. Alternatively, Blair could ask trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers to undertake another sweeping investigation of procedures. Either way, the issue is expected to be subject of considerable political rhetoric during the election campaign. As one multiple man put it on Thursday: "The spin doctors are having a field day at our expense." Predictions of an inquiry have also brought into sharp focus the controversial legally enforceable compulsory code of trading practice being drawn up by OFT lawyers. While the multiples have agreed a draft, NFU president Ben Gill said his organisation was unhappy with some of its provisions. While accepting "much good work" had been done to unite the food chain, he said: "Some of the big retailers have indulged in practices which no-one could condone, and we have to drive that sort of thing out." Labour spin doctors, meanwhile, have been busy briefing the media about the importance of the code which, they stress, is "designed to crack down on supermarket power". The retailers, meanwhile, are incensed by the pm's remark. The British Retail Consortium's director-general Bill Moyes said the comment was "not helpful, and not based on the facts." He added: "If there is an inquiry into the causes and management of the foot and mouth outbreak, the BRC fully expects the supermarkets to be exonerated once again." And in a letter to Tony Blair, Somerfield said: "At a time of crisis, a government thrashing around unfairly apportioning blame wastes time which could be better spent in working towards minimising the long-term effects of foot and mouth disease." - See News Special pp16 and 18, and Opinion, p20. {{NEWS }}