Recommendation 9

HM Government · verbatim extract Acknowledged

The Government notes the Committee’s conclusion that the demand for cheap meat and culturally preferred products is fuelling the influx of illegal imports into Great Britain. Drivers for illegal imports and measures to reduce demand will vary depending on whether they are commercial or personal. A further complication is where illegal imports transit Great Britain in response to external demand. For example, the Food Standards Agency met with officials from the Moldovan Embassy in London and officials from their food authority with the aim of tackling illegally imported food from Moldova, destined for the Moldovan communities in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. However, we do not believe that the demand-side factors driving the illegal movement of animal products, particularly meat, into Great Britain are currently fully understood. The implementation of an SPS Agreement with the EU will have implications on future policy for goods imported from the EU, including what types of product are considered to be illegal and available enforcement levers. Given formal negotiations are yet to commence, the precise nature of this impact is not yet known. Our assessment is that a demand focussed strategy would be a longer-term piece of work, which would be of greater benefit once the post-SPS Agreement implementation environment is better understood. Elsewhere in this response we set out an intention to focus in the short term on working with Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) and other enforcement bodies to address the immediate issue identified at the Short Straits which we expect to be of more immediate value. In 2023, Defra funded an African Swine Fever prevention pilot campaign focussed on Romania. This followed the introduction in September 2022 of new measures restricting personal imports of pork and pork products from the EU to 2kg unless commercially produced and packaged. Components included pre-travel display banners on travel webpages, media partnerships, public relations and community influencers, advertising at Stansted and Luton airports, and geo-targeted display banners. Defra took account of learnings from this pilot evaluation when rolling out its communications strategy for the restrictions on personal imports introduced in April 2025 and will continue to do so. Enforcement activities may also influence demand. This includes the border as well as downstream and upstream. Downstream, the Food Standards Agency has coordinated inland local authority operations to search for and seize illegally imported goods at inland food businesses. Upstream, Defra officials conducted an audit of the EU in 2023 to review animal health surveillance, prevention and control measures in relation to African Swine Fever. The auditors made recommendations in relation to tackling illegal movements of commodities that may present a disease risk. Additionally, in 2025, the Food Standards Agency identified vehicles involved in breaching both EU trade rules and GB import rules on multiple occasions in respect of meat. Defra shared this intelligence with the European Commission, which transmitted the information to relevant national food fraud contacts for investigation and confirmed to UK authorities that action had been taken as a result.