CALLS have been made for a significant increase in levels of meat testing, after it emerged that just one sample a day was being examined for authenticity in the run-up to the horsemeat scandal.

Figures provided by Food Standards Agency show that 365 samples were tested by local authorities across the whole of Scotland in 2012 to check whether consumers were getting the meat product they were sold.

Efforts were largely focused on takeaways with the most common failures being the incorrect type of meat being found in curries or the substitution of ham for poultry in pizza toppings.

In the first six months of 2013, the number of samples tested surged to 726 as councils responded to high-profile revelations over horsemeat being sold as meats such as beef or pork. But the failure rate of 14.5 per cent remained the same as the previous year, suggesting the number of cases of food fraud identified increases proportionally with the number of tests carried out.

The Scottish Government is planning to create a new body with additional responsibilities to the Food Standards Agency, to be known as Food Standards Scotland. MSPs have called for it to be appropriately resourced with more random testing carried out.

Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian, said: "If we want to rebuild trust in our food system, the levels of random meat testing need to be much higher than they were before the horsemeat scandal hit. With a new food standards agency being set up for Scotland, we have an opportunity to set the bar much higher."

Just 213 meat samples were tested for authenticity in 2010, with a failure rate of 20.1 per cent. The following year, 414 tests were carried out by local authorities, with the failure rate rising to almost a quarter.

The figures suggest that consumers are far more likely to be eating what they were sold when buying fish, rather than meat. Of the 360 fish samples taken over three-and-a-half years, eight failed the authenticity test. In those cases, haddock was primarily being substituted for whiting, and vice-versa. The Food Standards Agency said results from July last year onwards had not yet been analysed.

Labour MSP Claire Baker said: "We need to see from the Scottish Government a robust regulatory regime that works in the interest of consumers. But when the SNP slash council budgets, then you can understand the serious pressures that councils have faced. The increased level of testing is important, but what is equally important is that this level of activity isn't allowed to wane now that the headlines aren't about horsemeat."

Local authorities largely carry out sampling based on intelligence, rather than randomly testing products, after being given recommendations by the Food Standards Agency. The president of the Trading Standards Institute recently warned that the UK was in the grip of a serious food adulteration crisis.

Food Minister Richard Lochhead said that "consumers must be able to know what they are eating and trust the provenance and origin of food they buy".

"That is why the Scottish Government and our partners, including the Food Standards Agency Scotland, announced a series of tough measures to protect consumers and ensure food quality and safety in the wake of the horsemeat scandal," he added. "This included additional funding to extend meat testing."

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said: "For a number of years, FSA in Scotland has worked closely with the Scottish enforcement community through the Scottish Food Enforcement Liaison Committee's Sampling and Surveillance Working Group to identify emerging issues and priorities for sampling by local authorities which allows local authorities to develop a risk based sampling programme.

"In addition, the FSA provides annual sampling grants to local authorities across the UK to undertake sampling activity focussing on specific areas of concern."