AN environmental health officer yesterday criticised North Lanarkshire Council for its handling of the E-coli outbreak in its early stages.

Dr Lisa Ackerley, 36, a director of Hygiene Audit Systems Ltd, told the E-coli inquiry that the council food officers should not have allowed butcher John Barr to sell freshly made cooked meat products from his shop.

The inquiry heard earlier how the team dealing with the E-coli alert made the decision to allow Mr Barr to continue to sell sausages and bridies.

The concession came at a meeting at Barr's home on November 22 1996, after the Wishaw shop was identified as a possible source of the outbreak, which later claimed 21 lives.

The decision to stop all cooked meats leaving the shop was made later.

Dr Ackerley said the decision led to confusion over what could and could not be sold from the premises.

She said: ''If the situation was that simply only raw meat was sold, I think that would have been the most appropriate action to take immediately, bearing in mind the lay-out of the premises and the risk of cross-contamination.''

The inquiry in Hamilton has heard that, for several hours on Saturday November 23, 1996, no council environmental health officers were in the Wishaw butcher's shop to supervise the removal of all cooked meat products from the premises.

Dr Ackerley said: ''I find it inconceivable that they were not there actually watching the food coming out.''

She also said that the ''gentleman's agreement'' to remove cooked meats from sale should have been put in writing.

She was highly critical of a report on John Barr's compiled by North Lanarkshire during an inspection of the shop 10 months before the outbreak, and she attacked the good marks given by inspectors for confidence in the Barr's management when the shop had no hazard systems in place.

Referring again to the Saturday morning, she stressed that priority should have been given to removing unfit food from the food chain, rather than interviewing staff and taking swabs to check for E-coli 0157 on worktops and machinery.

The inquiry has heard claims that cooked cold meats, for a party, left the shop after the voluntary agreement was in place.

Earlier, the inquiry heard that a family's criticism that a GP missed E-coli food poisoning danger signs in a man who later died from the infection was not justified.

Dr Robert Pickard 59, consultant surgeon at Law Hospital in Carluke, was giving evidence to the inquiry about the death of Mr Alexander Gardiner, 74 .

Procurator-fiscal Frank Crowe suggested to Dr Pickard that there had been some criticism about his admission to the hospital, but the doctor argued that the GP had acted reasonably in view of the symptoms displayed by Mr Gardiner.

The inquiry continues.