A food inspector said yesterday that no temperature checks were made on cooked meats when he examined butcher John Barr's premises 10 months before a food poisoning outbreak was linked to his shop.

Mr Richard Proctor told the fatal accident inquiry into 21 E-coli deaths Mr Barr did not use probes to check the temperature of his cooked products.

In his risk assessment report compiled for former Motherwell district, Mr Proctor, an environmental health officer, rated the Wishaw butcher's premises with a score of 90, including points for potential hazards, method of production, consumer risk, and confidence in management.

Because the butchery factory score was five points less than an inspection the previous April, Barr's was to be checked once a year instead of every six months.

Mr Proctor, now an EHO with North Lanarkshire Council, said if he had known Barr's management were not telling him they were substantial wholesalers of cooked meat products, he would have had less confidence in them.

Consequently, he scored them higher in the ''confidence in management'' section.

Had he not done so, the premises would have been inspected again prior to the E-coli 0157 outbreak linked to cooked meats from the shop.

The food poisoning epidemic led to the deaths of 21 people in Lanarkshire and central Scotland and was the world's worst outbreak.

Mr Proctor, 24, said he had ''moderate confidence'' about the Barr management after his inspection on January 25, 1996, and added: ''He (Mr Barr) was doing quite well in comparison with other butchers in the area.''

A follow-up letter to the business pointed out six hygiene infringements but no mention of cross-contamination of foods.

However, Mr Proctor said he was not aware of food distribution outwith the premises and did not know Barr's had delivery vans - despite there being a record of five vans in use on file in the EHO Motherwell office.

Depute fiscal Ian McCann asked the witness if, during the inspection, checks had been made on the cooking temperatures of foods or whether Mr Barr used probes to check temperatures of cooked meats.

Mr Proctor said: ''There were no checks. Mr Barr didn't probe any of his food at that time. I would not expect him to do that at that time because this was a new concept in risk assessment.''

Mr Proctor was shown another risk assessment report carried out on Barr's after the November 1996 outbreak. That took two EHOs four hours to compile over two days and revealed 40 potential points relating to cross-contamination.

Cross-examined by solicitor Paul Santoni for relatives of one of the victims, Mr Proctor said that did not alter his opinion about the butcher's premises as seen by him in January. Mr Proctor said the November report was done when the shop sold only raw meats and information about cooked foods was obtained by interviewing staff.

Mr Proctor said he was unaware of the firm's wholesale business and exempted Mr Barr from registering under the Food Products (Hygiene) Regulations, 1994. He said Mr Barr told him 50% of his products were ''sold over the counter'' and that was enough to make him exempt.

The inquiry continues.