The Food Standards Agency's (FSA) Food Incidents Task Force has put together the guidance to help strengthen controls in the food chain, including step-by-step advice to help identify potential hazards.

A summary version of the guidance has been put together for small businesses, as well as those who have to deal with the effects of incidents, such as local authorities.

A spokesperson for the FSA said:

"The food chain is complex and food incidents are difficult to eliminate altogether but we hope that providing clear, easy-to-follow information will help food businesses to reduce the likelihood of them happening.

"The guidance also aims to improve the handling of incidents by providing easy-to-follow advice on the steps to follow if an incident does occur."