BUTCHERS shops across East Lancashire will have to be licensed following the wave of E Coli cases across the country.

The licensing fee is likely to cost around £100 per year and will affect at least 50 firms in Blackburn and Darwen.

The Department of Health has been looking at tightening up regulations on food safety following a series of deaths in Scotland caused by the food bug.

The Government set up the Pennington Group to look at the problem and at ways of improving health and safety standards in butchers' shops.

The group has come up with a series of proposals aimed at cutting down the risk of cross contamination between raw and cooked foods.

The main recommendations in the report include an annual licence for all butchers and shops selling uncooked meat.

Stores would only get the licence if they followed a set of strict conditions relating to food safety.

Local councils would have the power to revoke the licence if any of the conditions were broken.

Blackburn with Darwen council has welcomed the move but called for all stores, shops and catering establishments to be included in the scheme.

Council officials believe the proposals will increase the workload of environmental health officials and have called for a six-month period to "bed in" the new regulations.

The changes in the law will be discussed at a public protection sub-committee on Thursday.

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