THE story behind the horsemeat scandal will be among the highlights of this year’s York Food Festival, which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city.

As well as featuring some of Yorkshire’s finest chefs and home-grown produce, the UK’s largest food festival, being held for the 17th year, will look at how the fiasco unfolded.

The event, taking place in Parliament Street and in venues across the city from September 20 to 29, will also offer an insight into molecular gastronomy with its Food And Science theme.

There will be a series of Food And Science experiences and leading experts will be giving talks on the horsemeat scandal and how to eat fish sustainably.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “York Food Festival makes a fantastic contribution to the rich diversity of events on offer in Yorkshire throughout the year and we are proud to support it.”

The event is expected to attract more than 400,000 visitors over ten days with more than 100 food and drink stalls.

Workshops include the Science Of Sugar Boiling and Making Chocolate From Cocoa Beans, hosted by York Cocoa House.

A demonstration on The Chemistry Of Drinks will be given by University of York professor Paul Walton.

The event follows the spring version of the event, which took place last weekend and saw the famous food festival markets return to Parliament Street to showcase local Yorkshire produce and home-grown chefs, with cookery demonstrations.