Officials have raised concerns that the current post-Brexit border controls are failing to stop the influx of illegal meat.
The amount of illegal meat being seized at Dover has reached “unprecedented” levels, with a staggering 25 tonnes removed during the first week of February alone.
Authorities warn that illegal meat imports pose a risk to British biosecurity, potentially introducing diseases such as African swine fever and foot and mouth, which could pose a serious threat to British farmers.
Despite the risks, officials have raised concerns that the current post-Brexit border controls are failing to stop the influx of illegal meat. As part of an inquiry into the UK’s biosecurity measures for plant and animal imports, Lucy Manzano, head of the Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA), told the Food & Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee that nearly four tonnes of illegal meat were seized within just the first two days of February.
New animal and plant health checks on goods from the EU were introduced last year. The EFRA Committee is currently reviewing the effectiveness of these border controls, and their impact on international trade.
Border officials argue that the government’s post-Brexit strategy, known as the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), which introduced new physical checks on EU goods in April 2024, has failed to adequately protect the UK from illegal meat imports.
Manzano claims the controls are not sufficiently robust, with many EU consignments easily able to get auto-clearance to go through the border.
“The implementation of the BTOM is contributory, from what we’re seeing at the frontline, to these escalating numbers of illegal meat,” she said.
Manzano warns the amount of illegal meat intercepted by DPHA represents only “the tip of the iceberg.” She says that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has not allocated sufficient funding or provided adequate facilities for inspections, causing the DPHA to operate at just 20 percent of its full capacity. As a result, port health teams are not always present at the border to inspect vehicles that may carry illegal animal and plant goods. This gap in inspections increases the likelihood of illegal imports entering the UK food supply chain.
“If we’re not there, this stuff is going out on the shelves – this is not stuff where traditionally it would be hard to get hold of, it is appearing in shops on high streets, in markets… you may well be going out for dinner in normal-looking establishments and be consuming meat that has not been correctly processed,” Manzano told MPs.
Another key issue for port health authorities at Dover, where the majority of European goods come into Britain, is the government’s decision last year to relocate all physical checks for high-risk goods, including meat and dairy, from Dover to a new Border Control Post (BCP) in Sevington, Ashford, 22 miles inland.
Since then, DPHA has been denied access to the new facility and has been forced to conduct spot-checks at both commercial and tourist lanes at Dover before sending goods to Sevington for further inspection.
“We are looking at [illegal meat] in an environment that is highly inappropriate in terms of containment of the risk. That is why it’s imperative that these controls take place within a BCP for containment.
“After all, the very purpose of import controls is to keep the bad stuff out and contain it at the first point of entry, and then make sure that if it’s going back out, it goes out from that point of entry,” Manzano told the committee.
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