The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has once again called on government to counter illegal trade at the UK border to drive down the risk of African Swine Fever (ASF) entering the country.
BMPA claim that “the threat” of the virus comes from “the fact that small van loads of illegal meat with no paperwork are simply being waved through customs at UK borders.
“It’s happening because full sanitary and phytosanitary checks that should have been implemented in January 2021 when the Brexit transition period ended, have been delayed again until an unspecified date at the back end of 2023.”
Following previous calls for action by the BMPA and other trade bodies, the Association is asking the government to implement “proper import controls” to prevent illegal trade, “rather than simply admitting defeat and focusing instead on how they’re going to contain an outbreak when it happens.”
Increasing worries
According to the latest statement by the meat industry trade body, the BMPA assert that British farmers and meat processors are becoming “increasingly worried that it’s now inevitable” that African Swine Fever will make its way to Britain. According to the Association, producers point to “the current holes in the UK’s border security” as the main reason for their concern.
The Association added: “The noises coming out of government suggest that [it has] now given up on the idea that we can keep the virus out. If it happens, it could deal yet another blow to our domestic food and farming sector and close-off valuable overseas markets to British exports.”
Government report
According to a government report, and as previously reported by Meat Management, the ASF virus has been found across Germany and on a pig farm close to the French border. BMPA believes that this case is most likely to have occurred due contaminated meat products being discarded near the farm by people travelling into the area.
The UK is currently free of African Swine Fever. However, BMPA said that this latest development has prompted continued concern amongst domestic pig farmers and processors that the lack of effective border checks on food coming into the country leaves the UK vulnerable to an outbreak of the virus.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
