Appointing new food standards enforcement officers may not be possible because of falling budgets, Ceredigion County Council’s leader has warned.

A Food Standards Agency audit into the authority’s food law enforcement had warned that a shortage of officers could be a major issue for the council, which sparked the authority into putting the issue on its corporate risk register.

Members of the healthier communities scrutiny committee had called on the authority to appoint new staff members to ensure the required work could get done.

But council leader Ellen ap Gwynn said the continuing pressure on the council’s budget, especially with another funding cut from the Welsh Government expected for 2019/20, may mean that it is not possible, describing it as “difficult”.

Cllr ap Gwynn said that, while the authority is still working on reorganising the structure of the council’s departments and engaged in its ‘transformation’ process, it was uncertain whether additional food standard officers could be employed.

She said: “If there is any way of increasing staff we would welcome that.”

Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones, the chair of the scrutiny committee, said committee members had been keen to see staff numbers increased to ensure that the growing work demands would be met after the council previously had to pay contractors to clear a backlog of inspection work.

He said there was also support from members of the scrutiny committee to try to appoint an apprentice to the department as that would help the council to “grow our own staff”.

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