The UK meat industry has welcomed a draft sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU, while port health authorities have urged the government not to lower protection against infected food imports, Pig World reports.
A 200-page draft text was reported to have been circulated to EU nations in Brussels, with formal agreement intended at a summit on 20 November. The government says removing post-Brexit trade barriers would save the UK economy more than £5bn. In return, ‘dynamic alignment’ would require the UK to follow EU rules on animal and food standards.
According to the BBC, the benefits the government cites include resuming exports of fresh sausages, burgers, shellfish from domestic waters and seed potatoes, and ending £200 export health certificates and £25 phytosanitary certificates, along with inspector fees and some port fees and checks.
John Powell, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, said British firms already meet EU standards and must now prove it with “a mountain of costly paperwork”. He said smaller processors had effectively been priced out of exporting, and asked that the transition avoid fresh disruption.
Jason Aldiss of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers said hundreds of millions had gone on certificates, which he said add no animal or public health value where standards are aligned.
Anthony Baldock, executive board chair of the Association of Port Health Authorities, welcomed easier trade but said “removing a check does not remove the risk it was designed to manage”. He asked where responsibility for food safety moves to, who pays for it, how problems are detected and what happens when something goes wrong.
Photo: Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Pig World
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