Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) confirmed that January 2026 saw 33,981.62kg of illegal meat removed at the Port of Dover, which it said was the highest volume removed in one month since checks began.
The total figure removed by DPHA since checks began is 391,567.75kg.
In a report titled ‘Biosecurity at the Border: Britain’s Illegal Meat Crisis’, which was published in September 2025 by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee, it was stated that Defra’s approach to personal meat imports had been “unnecessarily lax”.
However, responding to the increase in seizures, a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said: “This Government is fully committed to protecting our biosecurity and our farming industry.
“We have tightened import rules, increased checks at the border and secured £3.1 million for Dover Port Health Authority this year alone. These strengthened measures are working, and we are seizing significantly more illegal meat at the border than ever before, keeping dangerous products out of the UK food chain.”
BMPA calls for use of traceability system to be made mandatory
Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association, commented: “The recent uptick in illegal meat seizures at Dover has highlighted weaknesses in the UK’s biosecurity at borders, but we must make the distinction between legal commercial shipments of meat, which the Border Target Operating Model is there to manage and which are all pre-notified with full export health certification, and the illegal meat being brought in to the UK in smaller vehicles that can only be detected via a system of intelligence and spot checks at the ports.
“For illegal meat imports, Brexit has not changed anything. EU member states as well as the UK can now, and always could, impose border checks based on risk assessments and intelligence. What seems to have happened is that the level of criminal activity has increased. It has become more lucrative and easier to smuggle cheap, illegal meat products into the UK, which get distributed to small shops and individuals via an established criminal network.
“The other angle to this is traceability. The reason Foot and Mouth Disease spread so widely and quickly in 2001 was that animal movements continued for several days after the first case was reported but there was no real-time digital system to track where they went. If you look at a visual ‘map’ of where all those animals went, it resembles a starburst fanning out from each livestock auction.”
“We now have a system… to be able to quickly shut down animal movements within the UK should FMD or other notifiable animal diseases reach our shores… however, its use isn’t mandatory.”
Nick Allen, BMPA
Allen continued: “We now have a system and the tools needed to be able to quickly shut down animal movements within the UK should FMD or other notifiable animal diseases reach our shores. It’s called the Livestock Information Service. However, its use isn’t mandatory and, furthermore, movements only get notified AFTER an animal movement has taken place. In other countries, movement licenses must be applied for BEFORE animals are moved from one farm to another or through the livestock auctions, which makes it much easier for the authorities to control the spread of disease.
“We need Government to make the use of this existing traceability system mandatory for cattle and sheep and for licenses to be applied for in advance. Without that the UK has no ability to lock down animal movements the minute a notifiable disease is discovered.”
Increased seizures “come as little surprise” to AIMS
A spokesperson for the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers stated: “The increased levels of illegal meat seizures at Dover come as little surprise as the Port Health Authority recognise the threat that this poses to the UK’s economy. It is of note that those involved in trying to bring meat illegally into the UK are using other ports now.
“It was reported earlier this month that nearly 300kg of illegal pork was confiscated at Harwich after being found hidden in foil and packed into suitcases via a courier service and no doubt other ports along the East coast are now being targeted by what is increasingly looking like organised criminality.
“At the end of January, AIMS identified an issue with tinned meat produced by a large manufacturer in Vietnam. The product had been made with pork contaminated with ASF and chicken with salmonella. A quick internet search found these products on sale here in the UK. We reported the issue to the NFCU who are looking into the matter now.
“The UK Government and it’s agencies must now up their efforts to keep the country, its farmers and legally operating food processing businesses safe from this almost constant attack from criminals operating from multiple countries looking to make a quick return from infected and illegal meat imports.”
