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The government wants to ensure retailers and suppliers can continue to sell basics such as meat, bread and milk if hauliers bring the country to a halt.

They have asked supermarkets to make contingency plans “in case the infrastructure of the country breaks down”.

Among those who have taken part are farmers, dairies, bakeries and supermarkets.
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At least four government departments are involved. The operation is being led by Bruce Mann, director of civil contingencies at the Cabinet Office.

The government has commissioned IGD, a company that collects intelligence on international food and grocery chains, to supply data about how food is moved around the country and where stocks are held. The information has been used to put together a “map” of depots and supply lines.

The move comes as hauliers warn that direct action over soaring fuel prices is a “very strong possibility”.

Until the early 1990s the government held secret food stocks, typically biscuits, flour and other dry foodstuffs, in grain sheds around the country. It now relies on retailers and suppliers to have plans in place.

Normally supermarkets operate on the basis of “just in time” deliveries, designed to cut waste by ensuring supplies just match demand. The government is keen to ensure stocks of essentials do not run out if the system is derailed because lorries cannot make their usual deliveries.

Tesco, which has played a key part in the discussions, wants the government to allow it and other suppliers to sit in on the cabinet’s emergency committee, Cobra, in the event of a crisis.

David North, the company’s community and government director, said food supplies could be hit by fuel protests, though he assured customers that the situation would have to be “fairly calamitous” for supplies to run out.

A Defra spokesman said plans were put in place during a strike by Shell tanker drivers last month, drawing on experience of the strikes in 2000.

“We are in contact with producers and retailers, to know what food supplies are where, at any given time . . . should the infrastructure of the country break down.”