UK Faces Growing Food Safety Crisis Amid Illegal Meat Imports
The UK is grappling with a severe food safety crisis as the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee revealed in a report on Monday that “alarming amounts” of meat and dairy products continue to be illegally imported for personal use and commercial sale, reports 24brussels.
While the government has banned personal imports of meat and dairy from the EU, the committee described this measure as “toothless.” Illegally imported products continue to infiltrate the UK through airports, seaports, and the Eurotunnel, finding their way into the country via freight, parcels, personal luggage, and passenger vehicles.
Committee chair Alistair Carmichael warned, “It would not be an exaggeration to say that Britain is sleepwalking through its biggest food safety crisis since the horse meat scandal.” He highlighted the significant risk of an animal disease outbreak, pointing to a single case of foot-and-mouth disease in Germany this year, which likely stemmed from illegally imported meat and cost the country one billion euros.
Carmichael urged the government to take decisive action by establishing a national taskforce, enhancing food crime intelligence networks, imposing “real deterrents,” and equipping port health and local authorities with necessary resources and powers.
In a nine-month inquiry into animal and plant health, experts presented disturbing evidence regarding border controls, citing instances of meat arriving in unsanitary conditions, often transported in the back of vans, concealed in plastic bags, suitcases, and cardboard boxes.
At the Port of Dover alone, port health officials reported intercepting 70 tons of illegal meat imports from vehicles between January and the end of April, a sharp increase from 24 tons during the same period in 2024.
Emma Miles, director general for food, biosecurity, and trade at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, addressed the Public Accounts Committee last week, noting uncertainty surrounding the increase in seizures of illegal meat at Dover. “When you’re catching people it might just mean you are doing better surveillance and enforcement,” she explained.