THE review of public food buying was described as a tremendous opportunity for British farmers.

Sir Ben Gill, NFU president and Easingwold farmer, said they had pressed for public bodies to use home-produced food instead of cheap foreign imports for some time.

"For too long, Government and its agencies have focused simply on the lowest possible price," said Sir Ben. "Changing the criteria to things like animal welfare and food standards means that British farmers are ideally placed to meet this opportunity."

The use of British farm-assured produce would give confidence to public sector buyers that they were buying food produced to some of the highest standards in the world.

"And the provision of local products to Government institutions could help maintain many local farm businesses, giving producers the encouragement to develop," he said.

It would be important for the entire chain, from Government departments and food service companies to processors and producers, to work together.

"This will require real long-term planning to maximise when British and local food is in season and available, as well as opportunities to develop local sourcing," he said.

Douglas Chalmers, the Country Land and Business Association's regional director for the North-East and North-West, described the review as the "most significant opportunity for years if these markets are opened up".

He added: "Everyone will benefit from higher quality food produced to high standards in this country."

The CLA had campaigned to raise awareness of the quality and range of local food. "This announcement reinforces our belief that it should no longer be considered simply as a niche market," he said. "This is the acknowledgment from Government that we have been waiting for, and the CLA can now lobby the large sector private buyers with an even stronger argument. We will make them sit up and take notice."

Mick Sloyan, British Pig Executive, said the review would give British pig production a boost, focusing on production standards, welfare and health benefits of lean modern pork and pork products.

"The British pig industry is ideally placed to meet the needs of local sourcing as more than 90pc of production is already covered by whole chain quality assurance," said Mr Sloyan.

"Purchasing agencies have a duty to obtain best value but that means quality, not just price. Unfortunately many organisations buy purely on price, which means they buy a lot of imported pork and pork products produced under conditions which would be illegal here."

British producers had already had notable success in persuading the NHS of the quality and healthiness of British pork. "One of the achievements has been to get as many pork dishes as chicken on hospital menus," he said, adding that the Ministry of Defence was also now getting all its pork, bacon and ham from Britain.