NFU Cymru sounds border warning to government over Foot and Mouth Disease fears

The Welsh farming union has written to the Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens MP detailing ‘very serious concerns’ over the volumes of illegal meat being imported into the UK. Since September 2022, border officers have seized over 190 tonnes of illegally imported meat products at the Port of Dover, with 10 tonnes being seized during just one week in January 2024.

With cases of FMD confirmed on mainland Europe in recent weeks, NFU Cymru is calling for the UK Government to take urgent action on border and import controls, including a complete permanent ban on personal meat imports. Illegal meat imports carry a significant biosecurity risk, in particular for carrying Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and African Swine Fever (ASF).

While FMD poses no risk to humans or the food chain, the disease is catastrophic to livestock farming businesses. NFU Cymru said the 2001 UK FMD outbreak ‘brought the Welsh agriculture sector to its knees’. The cost to both the UK public and private sectors was estimated by the National Audit Office to be over £8 billion.

NFU Cymru Livestock Board Chairman Rob Lewis said: “With cases of FMD confirmed in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia in recent weeks, the memories of 2001 come flooding back and send a chill down the spine of the Welsh farming community. We must operate a ‘keep it out’ policy when it comes to exotic animal disease, failure to do so will have a devastating impact not only for individual farm businesses, but for the whole country.

“There is evidence to suggest illegally imported meat is coming through both personal and commercial import routes at Dover. However, this is not only a Channel ports problem, as we also learned of a significant illegal meat seizure in Northern Ireland in March, which is a real worry for us given Wales has three ferry ports with the island of Ireland.

“The quantities recovered at the Port of Dover suggest this is often organised crime and given the limited funding, operational capacity and only a small percentage of vehicles checked, it is believed that much more illegal Products of Animal Origin (POAO) is entering the country.

“As such, we believe that the Dover Port Health Authority’s (DPHA) Border Target Operating Module (BTOM), in its current form, is not fit for purpose and is highly vulnerable to exploitation from organised crime. We have very serious concerns about the functionality of the BTOM. As an island, our natural border should be our greatest asset. Sadly, our points of entry are vulnerable and present an unnecessary risk.”

NFU Cymru Dairy Board Chairman Jonathan Wilkinson said: “We welcome the prompt decisions made to ban all imports from areas of Europe currently affected by FMD, but we firmly believe more must be done to minimise the risk through delivering a ban on all personal meat imports to the country and through increased border controls to stop illegal meat imports, with effective penalties in place for those who break the rules.

“NFU Cymru is asking for a clear biosecurity and investment plan across UK Government and the devolved administrations to protect our nation from the devastating impact of exotic diseases on our shores. We ask the Secretary of State to take these matters up with her Ministerial colleagues in UK Government as a matter of urgency. With the risk of disease incursion high, our livestock farming families are worried that the current import controls do not match the threat to the nation’s biosecurity.”