A new system of light touch regulation is to be launched by the government in return for retailers and suppliers signing up to new rules on transparency over food safety.

Under changes planned by the FSA, the number of local authority inspections across the industry could plummet by up to 70%, with the onus put on self- regulation and privately run assurance schemes.

FSA CEO Tim Smith claimed it had public support for the move, which would involve more targeted visits by the 2,800- strong team of local authority health inspectors, which faces cuts because of the economic crisis.

But in return, he said, food companies would have to agree to a much higher degree of openness over food safety.

Smith said the move would allow the FSA to “concentrate its firepower” on serial offenders, with plans also afoot to force them to fund the cost of investigations through fines.

But while he insisted the moves would make the public safer from food poisoning outbreaks such as E.coli, he admitted they were part-driven by cuts facing local authorities.

“There’s every prospect of our food police making fewer visits and relying on businesses to take more responsibility,” he said. “The vast majority of businesses have rugged systems.”

More than half a million interventions were carried out by local authorities in 2010/2011, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%, but the FSA expects this to plummet under the new approach.

The Red Tractor Assured Dairy Farm scheme, is being used as one model. It is currently on course to slash official inspections in England and Wales from more than 11,000 to about 3,000 per year.

Although FSA research showed that the public broadly supported the move, it also revealed concerns that the agency would lose central control and that the system would be biased towards big companies with smaller businesses losing out.

The FSA is now drawing up plans to pilot the new system.

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