Due to the rapid spread of foot-and-mouth disease seen in the United States, the British government has banned the import of personal meat and dairy products from the European Union. Under the new rules, passengers are banned from carrying these products with them and serious fines will be applied if they breach the rules.
Passengers arriving in the UK will not be able to import personal use beef, sheep, goat, pig meat and dairy products from EU countries from Saturday. Foods such as sandwiches, cheese, deli meats, raw meat and milk will be treated as prohibited, whether they are packaged or bought from duty-free shops.
The government says the measure is designed to protect the health of British livestock, the safety of farmers and the UK’s food security. Passengers carrying these products will have to hand them in at the border or they will be confiscated and destroyed. Violators will be fined £5,000 ($6,550) in the UK.
The UK government earlier this year banned personal imports of beef, sheep, other ruminants, pork and dairy products from Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria following cases of foot-and-mouth disease recorded in those countries.
The new rules extend these restrictions to all EU countries. It is clarified that foot-and-mouth disease does not pose a risk to human health and there are currently no cases in the UK, however it is emphasised that it is a highly contagious viral infection for paired hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep, pigs, wild pigs, deer, llamas and alpacas.
The emergence of the disease in Europe poses a serious threat to farms and animal health. As the disease can lead to reduced productivity in affected animals and restricted access to international markets for meat and dairy products, it can cause significant economic losses.
