GORDON Prentice has stepped up his campaign to toughen up the sentences for people who sell rotten food for human consumption.

The East Lancashire Labour MP was horrified when the ringleader of a gang of five who sold potentially poisonous turkey and chicken meat intended for pet food for human consumption, got just seven years in prison.

The judge in the case at Hull in December wanted to give him more than 10 and give longer prison terms to his accomplices.

The Pendle backbencher put down a Commons Motion calling for tougher powers but was horrified to discover that even the seven year and other prison sentences came not from prosecution under the Food Safety Act 1990 but by charging them with conspiracy to defraud.

The main main Food Safety Act has seen just two prison sentences in a decade -- one for three months and one for four months.

Mr Prentice tackled leader of the Commons, Margaret Beckett on the issue calling for action. She said it was a "very important issue." saying: "I believe all MPs share your horror at the case. The descriptions were so revolting as to almost put one off eating, never mind eating the substances in question."

She said the government had already done much to boost safeguards in the food and meat industry but she would pass on Mr Prentice's remarks to Health Secretary Alan Milburn and the Food Standards Agency.

Mr Prentice said: "Putting condemned meat in the human food chain is a very serious matter and one that could affect human health. The law needs strengthening urgently."