UK food exporters have spent over £200m on vet paperwork since Brexit

The British food industry has spent over £200m on export health certificates since Brexit controls came into force in January 2021.

The government’s Animal & Plant Health Agency has issued more than one million certificates since the European Union introduced new border requirements on UK exports.

Each veterinary-issued certificate needed to send some food goods, like meat and dairy, to the EU can cost up to £200, which means the industry has spent approximately £205m on EHCs alone from December 2020 to June 2024.

This is according to new figures by the SPS Certification Working Group, which comprises some 30 organisations representing £100bn of the UK’s food supply, production and distribution chain, as well as enforcers and port health.

The group wrote to new Defra secretary Steve Reed last week, urging him to address a series of concerns around the UK’s post-Brexit trade strategy, also known as the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).

The BTOM brought those same border controls that the bloc has had in place for British goods to European goods entering the UK in April this year, after being postponed five times in three years by the Conservative government.

But the food industry has repeatedly warned that its implementation – with several reports of border delays, IT failures, lack of proper checks and a shortage of trained personnel – along with the associated costs, will put off EU businesses from exporting to Britain and jeopardise the country’s food safety.

Read more: Brexit border rules: the big questions still to answer on imports

Traders’ main concerns include how physical checks on EU goods considered medium- and high-risk – for example sausages or yoghurt – are being handled at the government-funded facility in Sevington, around 22 miles away from Dover, Britain’s busiest point of entry.

Not only are businesses and health authorities worried about the dangers to food safety posed by the “numerous turn-off points along the route”, it has also been widely reported that the Sevington BCP has not been able to cope with the influx of goods that need to be checked.

Traders have warned of delays of up to 24 hours, loss of entire consignments filled with perishable goods, and poor infrastructure that is not suitable for specific temperature-controlled checks.

“Perishable and other foods are being delayed entry, resulting in food waste and financial loss”, the letter to Reed said. “Businesses cannot effectively plan trade routes” as “BCPs’ opening hours are too restricted to accept 24/7/365 imports”, it added.

“It is worth noting that the EU is the major supplier of many of the UK’s food and ingredients, and that much EU-GB trade operates on a ‘just-in-time’ basis, often involving product with significantly shorter shelf-life than that arriving from other origins”, the SPS group told the new Defra chief.

“Any disruptions to this EU-GB supply chain therefore pose significant risks to UK food security and need to be carefully managed, planned for and mitigated where possible.”

Reed was also urged to address claims from hauliers that the conditions at Britain’s borders are “deplorable” in comparison to European standards, flagging long waits and a lack of adequate driver facilities.

The chaos at the border forced the previous government to significantly scale back physical checks on European goods, with several businesses claiming that loads are simply “being waved in” without undergoing the right controls.

One Polish trader told The Grocer that “Defra are not sure how border controls work” and that “the only controls in place now are document ones”.

Read more: New Brexit border checks causing food industry angst

Regardless of whether goods are selected by border authorities to undergo physical checks, companies using the Sevington BCP still have to pay the controversial Common User Charge (CUC), a fixed fee applied to each consignment, and which varies depending on how many commodity lines it carries.

The CUC “disproportionately burdens SMEs” carrying smaller loads of different products in comparison to, for instance, a big importer that is carrying a truck full of the same product, the SPS Certification working group said.

“EU exporters have stated that on expiry of current supply contracts they will review whether to continue to supply GB given the new regime and associated issues”, it warned.

Dover Port Health Authority have also reported that funding for its frontline defence against imports of illegal meat and surveillance for diseases such as African swine fever has been cut by up to 70% under the previous government, which industry have deemed “wholly unacceptable”.

These matters “of huge significance relating to our nation’s biosecurity, food safety and the ongoing ability of GB to trade” were repeatedly raised with Defra throughout the implementation of BTOM, according to the SPS Certification group, yet were not tackled ahead of the general election.

The Grocer has reached out to Defra for comment.