Tories set to expose buyers of foreign foodstuff

They will be forced to publish details of the food they buy and where it comes from in a drive to ensure more parts of the public sector buy British produce.

Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert said his proposals would "lift the veil" on buying practices in the public sector as he also promised new rules to force Whitehall departments and agencies to buy food which meets tough British standards of production.

The measures form the next phase of the Tories' Honest Food campaign, which has already been influential in getting retailers to clean up dirty labelling practices that allowed cheap foreign meat imports to be passed off as high-quality British.

The action on public sector food procurement comes after the Government admitted earlier this year the proportion of British food bought by departments fell in the previous year.

Mr Herbert told the Yorkshire Post: "Gordon Brown talks about Britishness but his Government has been presiding over declining purchasing of British food and the Government should lead by example.

"Not only do we want Government departments themselves to buy more local food but we want to drive this policy throughout the whole public sector. This could make a huge difference if it was injected into the local rural economy.

"People will be able to ask the question: if there are some councils and some NHS trusts that have a better record, why aren't others matching that? This will put power in the hands of consumers who will be able to shame their local bodies that aren't doing well enough."

Figures published in February revealed major institutions like the NHS, Ministry of Justice and Foreign Office all recorded significant drops in the proportion of domestic food they bought last year.

The amount of UK poultry bought slumped from 68 per cent in 2007-08 to 56 per cent in 2008-09, while domestic pork fell from 74 per cent to 62 per cent, a blow to struggling pig farmers.

Under proposals to be launched today, the Tories will make it mandatory for all new contracts for Whitehall departments and agencies to purchase only food that meets British standards of production, as long as this can be achieved without increasing overall costs.

Mr Herbert said the public sector spent 2bn a year on food procurement.