Illegal meat on most UK high streets, official says

A senior health official has stated that post-Brexit border checks are undermining efforts to prevent meat potentially carrying diseases from entering the UK. The head of port health at Dover has pointed out that illegal meat, unchecked for proper health standards, is now available on "most high streets" in Britain.

Recent outbreaks of deadly animal diseases in Europe have caused concern among health departments, Whitehall officials, and many in the agricultural community regarding the threat these diseases pose to the UK. However, the UK government has previously insisted that the new post-Brexit border check system, which came into effect last April, guarantees the UK's protection from disease.

Under the post-Brexit system, checks on commercial vehicles are not conducted at the Port of Dover itself. Instead, drivers are required to travel to the Sevington Border Control Post, located 22 miles (35km) away. But critics warn that, due to a lack of enforcement, many lorries are simply not making the journey for inspection.

Parliament's Environment Select Committee has launched an inquiry to assess whether the system is effective. Lucy Manzano, head of port health at Dover, told the committee's MPs that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been exaggerating the system's effectiveness. She stated: "Defra has been claiming that there are robust controls in place. That is simply not the case, they do not exist."

Manzano added that the department had failed to provide "any reassurance about how food is controlled when it arrives, or more importantly, in the time between it arriving and it going to the inspection facility 22 miles away". She claimed she had presented evidence to the government "demonstrating that the system that was set up to protect the nation's biosecurity... is not working".

Defra declined to respond to a recent Freedom of Information request from the BBC's Countryfile programme, which asked how many vehicles had failed to travel to Sevington for inspection. Manzano claimed that illegal meat is now becoming more prevalent in high street shops, and it is increasingly difficult for consumers to discern whether the products they are buying have undergone proper health checks.

It is understood that Defra's view is that post-Brexit checks are working as planned. Figures released earlier this week showed that nearly 100 tonnes of illegal meat were seized at the Port of Dover last year. Defra stated that the government "will never waver from its responsibility to protect the UK's biosecurity" and insisted it was working effectively with enforcement agencies.

A BBC News investigation last year found that the unprecedented level of seizures had raised concerns about more organised criminal activity. There is indeed a health check facility similar to Sevington at the Port of Dover, but it is understood the government chose not to use it due to concerns about creating traffic congestion at the border. Manzano said this decision was "not based on biosecurity", adding that "the fundamental purpose of import controls is to keep the bad stuff out and to control it at the point of first entry".

Last month, the UK government introduced strict restrictions on meat imports from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease there. But Manzano said that IT systems introduced since Brexit are flawed, meaning products that should be checked were being allowed free passage into the UK for "at least six days". When the current system was introduced last year, the government also provided funding to Port Health at Dover to carry out random checks on smaller vehicles directly at the border. Data shows that the vast majority of illegal meat seized in the UK has been discovered through these spot checks.

But Manzano said this funding will run out in seven weeks, and without further government money, the checks will have to stop. Government discussions are ongoing about how best to fund border checks. It is understood that the decision to locate the inspection post at Sevington may have had a direct negative impact on the funding received by Port Health at Dover. A Defra spokesperson declined to comment on ongoing spending decisions.