A total of 21 English councils did not carry out food sampling last year because of a lack of resources

The number of food safety checks has more than halved in the past decade because council budgets have been cut, analysis by The Times shows.

The total number of samples taken from food shops, cafés, pubs, restaurants and takeaways in England and Wales by council officers has fallen by 58 per cent in the past ten years.

Officials working for trading standards and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) took 34,704 samples from establishments in 2018-19, down from 82,104 in 2008-09.

A total of 21 English councils did not carry out any food sampling last year because of a lack of resources. In its annual report the FSA says that effective routine sampling should feature in the work of all councils.

Of those councils that responded