ED MOSS News Cuts could prevent investigation of future horsemeat scandals IAKOV FILIMONOV / SHUTTERSTOCK Reductions in trading standards funding are drastically increasing the likelihood of a major food-safety incident such as the 2013 horsemeat scandal an expert in food fraud has warned. Professor Chris Elliot, who led the government inquiry into the sale of horsemeat labelled as beef in the UK, says that Britain is lagging behind other European countries, which are much better resourced. The Dutch Food Crime Unit, for example, is around 10 times the size of its British equivalent. Giving evidence to the House of Lords energy and environment select committee in July, Elliot said that food safety infrastructure, including trading standards and environmental health ofcers, has been cut to the bone and, if there are further cuts, the likelihood of further major food-safety incidents is quite high. He added that fraudsters often know what level of testing and sampling happens and at what point in the process this will take place and they will relocate their supply chains if they think they might be caught. He said: Their skill is movement and transportation and logistics how they can move things around without being detected. No-one was prosecuted for the 2013 horsemeat fraud, which Elliot said was because the infrastructure was not there to investigate what is very complex crime. However, he praised the UKs Food Crime Unit, adding that like trading standards services it is currently grossly under-resourced. In the future, Elliot hopes to see the Food Crime Unit carrying out 10 to 20 investigations into organised crime a year. Illegal evictions soaring, reports Citizens Advice Instances of privately renting tenants seeking help from Citizens Advice over illegal convictions have risen by almost half over the past year. Citizens Advice, a national charity, was approached by tenants whose landlords tried to evict them for missing a single rent payment, changed the locks without warning, or even seized their belongings. Figures for the 12 months up to March 2016 show that 2,087 people asked for help after being threatened with illegal eviction a 47 per cent rise from 1,415 the previous year. Citizens Advice is trying to make landlords aware that illegal eviction is a criminal offence. To evict tenants legally, a private landlord generally has to serve notice, then if necessary get a possession order, followed by a bailiffs warrant from a court. Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: Landlords who break the law shouldnt be able to hide. Its a crime to throw people out of their homes without a court order, but more and more people are coming to Citizens Advice with this problem. A new database of landlords who have broken the law will be available to councils in England from October next year. Citizens Advice is running a campaign Settled and Safe which calls for the database to be made available to tenants so they can avoid bad landlords. The Renters Rights Bill, which passed its Second Reading in the House of Lords on 10 June, would give people in England the right to see if their landlord is on the database. Volkswagen to be sued by three states Volkswagen is being sued by three American states over the diesel engine emissions scandal, according to various media reports. Maryland, New York and Massachusetts are all believed to have filed lawsuits in July. The attorneys general for New York and Massachusetts have reportedly claimed that VW knew for years about so-called defeat devices being used, labelling the controversy a massive coverup and a widespread conspiracy. In a statement carried by the BBC, Volkswagen said: It is regrettable that some states have decided to sue for environmental claims now, notwithstanding their prior support of this ongoing federal-state collaborative process. Englands black market hot spots exposed Hundreds of jobs are being put at risk by the trade in fake goods, experts have warned, as a BBC investigation using a Freedom of Information request has highlighted the black markets in Englands biggest cities. BBC News asked for records from the 10 most populated cities in England, contacting councils in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Leicester and West Yorkshire. Trading standards figures showed: G Hot spots in Manchester, Birmingham and Newham, east London G Manchesters Cheetham Hill, dubbed Counterfeit Street by the Intellectual Property Office, for having the biggest issue with counterfeit clothing G The Beats headphones endorsed by rap star Dr Dre as one of the most commonly copied goods across England G A 76 per cent rise in the number of confiscations between 2014 and 2015