UK minister says Brexit food checks will ‘have a light touch’

“We’re trying to cut down the amount of red tape and bureaucracy and so we are continually trying to make sure we have a light touch,” UK exports minister Malcolm Offord told Bloomberg’s UK politics podcast. “This is why it’s been revised for the benefit of our companies.”

Last week, the British government insisted that the next, long postponed, round of Brexit border checks on plant and animal products will begin on April 30, after a report in the Financial Times claimed UK port authorities had been told that health and safety checks on EU imports would not be going ahead as planned due to fears of “significant disruption” and of a return to long queues of lorries at ports.

Physical checks on what are regarded as medium to high-risk foods entering Britain from the EU, including cheese, fish and meat, are due to be introduced at the end of the month.

EU food imports will incur fees as high as £145 (€169) and vets will begin carrying out spot checks on produce, a move hauliers and the food sector fears will slow supply chains and increase cost and waste if food spoils.