TRADING standards chiefs are making too few checks on shops, restaurants and other food premises, according to an independent inspection.

Inspectors from the Food Standards Agency say that Kent County Council needs to make more frequent inspections on those premises it is responsible for monitoring.

Trading standards ensure that shops, pubs, restaurants and manufacturers are selling or making food which is properly labelled.

The county council said that while it accepted the report’s findings, its "intelligence-led" approach to monitoring made it more difficult to comply with standards set down by the FSA.

In their report on KCC, inspectors found that more than 900 premises regarded as being "medium risk" were overdue an inspection.

Three of the 10 "high risk" premises were also overdue for an inspection, although two of these had been incorrectly rated.

The inspectors concluded KCC had a "significant number of premises that were overdue an inspection …this made it more difficult for KCC to identify those businesses that did not comply with food standards and to take timely action."

The report also criticised KCC for failing to keep complete records of inspections.

Clive Bainbridge, KCC’s chief trading standards officer, said the authority was taking steps to address the issues raised by the report and that more money was being ploughed into the department to recruit more staff.

“There is a different focus to the way we work to the way adopted by the FSA. We do accept that we ought to visit more premises but our aim is not to comply slavishly with every FSA requirement but to work in a way which is better because it is intelligence-led,” he said.

The inspection was carried out in June this year.