Dover, UK: Dover Port Health Authority took park in a multi-agency exercise at the port earlier this month, where officials checked 22 vehicles and seized 2 ½ tonnes of illegal pork products, prompting fears about the safety of food imports.
The inspection was part of the authority’s work to mitigate the risk of African swine fever entering the country.
Port officials found maggot-infested meat dripping blood on to ready-to-eat food during the inspection, According to an article in the Times newspaper. The vehicles searched came from Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Poland.
Inspectors found raw animal products loosely stored in carrier bags and tissue without temperature control, refrigeration or labelled identification. The items were not separated from products such as cheese, crisps and cake.
Dover Port Health Authority, which is provided by Dover District Council, has expressed serious concerns regarding the mitigation of biosecurity risks at the port, including concerns that a new port health facility in Dover has not yet opened.
The authority wrote to the then Prime Minister in May, raising a number of urgent issues, including:
- the very significant increase in non-compliant imported food
- an increase in the risk of a national food safety and/or biosecurity incident
- the impact on economic growth
- evidence of deliberate food fraud
- the risk, to UK farmers and consumers, of African swine fever entering the UK
- seeking the prompt mobilisation of the Dover Border Control Post (BCP) to ensure the authority can protect biosecurity and disrupt food fraud and criminality.
The authority says that it has received a reply to its letter, but awaits a detailed response to the issues raised.
“We continue to seek ministerial approval so we can start operations at the facility,” said the authority.
