The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has announced that it would launch a review into its handling of the horsemeat scandal.
The food safety watchdog announced this at a board meeting in Cardiff. The independent investigation will be led by Cambridge University Hospitals vice chair Professor Pat Troop, who will review the emails and several other documents of the agency.
FSA was criticized severely over its handling of the scandal, following media reports that beef products sold in the UK were tainted with horsemeat.
The investigation will review if the agency should have been more alert to such food contamination risks. Also, it will analyse the agency's response to any recent prior intelligence on the horsemeat contamination threat before the Food Safety Authority of Ireland exposed the scandal early this year.
Findings will be submitted to the board on 4 June and a formal report will be presented to the FSA by the end of June for publication.
The investigation will help in the larger review of the scandal by the UK government.
The government had announced that a wide-ranging strategic review of the horsemeat scandal will be conducted, in a move to restore consumers' confidence in the food they buy.
Horsemeat was first found in frozen burgers in January.
