The idea that meat infected with African swine fever (ASF) might be getting into the country unchecked and circulating freely is a terrifying one for the pig sector.

According to Lucy Manzano, head of Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA), the ASF threat is now coming as much from commercial meat imports due to the flawed implementation of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), as it is from illegal meat imports.

This, she believes, is largely down to the previous government’s decision to build a brand-new border control post (BCP) 22 miles inland at Sevington to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks for goods arriving at Dover Port and via Eurotunnel, rather than at the point of entry at Dover, where a perfectly good BCP already exists.

“The implementation of the BTOM at the Short Straits is not working effectively or consistently,” Ms Manzano told Pig World.

“We are aware that illegal imports of commercial meat are coming through in significant and concerning volumes and without appropriate intervention at Sevington.

“In addition, IT systems continue to work ineffectively and do not communicate with each other as required or expected – and Port Health controls in place at Sevington are not identifying and controlling consignments as they should be.

“We are being notified of goods being called for examination that don’t arrive, or do arrive and are turned away, or arrive and then sit there for long periods of time and have then been told to leave without checks at all.”

She said the inherited imported food system now operating at the Short Straits was based on flawed Defra data assumptions – a poor understanding of the type of food and the volumes coming through – and not opening a BCP at the border in Dover.

“As such, controls aren’t working as they should, the impact of which is a big hole in this critical border, which means meat is getting in unchecked or, if it is, checked in a very inconsistent and ineffective way,” she said.

Minimal checks

Defra has stressed that it is operating a risk-based approach that will see a significant reduction in the number of checks at Sevington.

It has also said the checks are being gradually phased in since April, although it has given no further indication of how it will up the frequency.

But in a recent letter to Defra secretary Steve Reed calling for action to address the situation, the UK Livestock Chain Advisory Group (LCAG), a coalition of 26 farming and meat industry bodies, said less than 10% of about 100 physical checks that should be taking place each day are happening.

British Meat Processors Association chief executive Nick Allen said only around 2% of goods coming through are being checked at Sevington. “How is that effective as a control?” he said.

This is partly due to the option of auto-clearance at the BCP, which means loads can be auto-cleared two hours prior to arrival.

Loads are auto-clearing through Sevington even if they’re entering via a different port as they know no physical checks will take place, according to LCAG.

Ms Manzano added: “Goods that should categorically not have come in have done so and with commercial papers.

“Our work has and continues to identify that commercial meat from ASF-restricted areas is clearly coming in at the straits without the checks required – exactly as we said would happen at the very beginning and warned the previous government of.”

Illegal meat checks

Meanwhile, Dover Port Health Authority, in conjunction with UK Border Force, continues to carry out checks for illegal ‘personal imports’ of meat at Dover Port.

“We have teams down there now, as we speak, on the tourist lanes carrying out ASF checks for, technically, personal imports, but they are largely not what we would consider personal imports.

“This is predominately illegal meat deliberately brought in, often in very large volumes, from those ASF-infected areas,” Ms Manzano added.

About 100t of illegal meat has been seized at Dover over the past two years, but it is widely acknowledged that this represents just the tip of the iceberg.

Yet Defra told DPHA in December that it was cutting its budget for this work from £3.2m to £1.2m in 2024-25, starting in April, and then to nothing in 2025-26. Despite this, the requirement for Dover Port Health to complete ASF controls has been extended to Coquelles, in France.

Funding of this critical work remains unconfirmed. “We are fully committed to completing these extended checks, and working with the new government, but we can’t do this critical work for GB biosecurity without the funding required to deliver the service,” Ms Manzano said.

“We have put forward funding models to be able to effectively control the risk at Dover and Coquelles. We await responses from the new government.”

Government help

DPHA has also written to Mr Reed calling for an urgent review of how the BTOM is operating at the Short Straits and the biosecurity value it is delivering for GB at this critical border.

“The current system is failing. It is absolutely not operating in the best interests of GB biosecurity and, as the Port Health Authority, it is our responsibility to be really clear about what is and isn’t working and to help the new government identify what needs to change, and to make some really swift adjustments to plug those holes,” Ms Manzano added.

The authority, and wider industry, is hopeful, that as parliament returns to full swing in the autumn, they will see some action from Defra ministers.

After all, food security minister Daniel Zeichner showed an active interest in the situation while in opposition and, since the election, Defra ministers have identified addressing border control flaws as a major priority.

“We are hoping that as they return in September, they move forward quickly with a review and start to unpick what is happening here now,” Ms Manzano said.

“We have lost sight of the purpose of border controls – it is not a documentary process. It is about keeping the bad things out. We want to see consistent and transparent checks of biosecurity value, carried out at the point of entry at Dover, our greatest line of defence. The move to Sevington is exposing us to entirely unnecessary and needless risk.

“It must be addressed before it’s too late and, as the port health authority at the border, we cannot sit back and ignore what is happening, especially when there are relatively simple solutions that could be activated quickly to secure this border and GB biosecurity.

“Dover Port Health’s objective is to keep GB safe and fix these glaring holes. If we don’t, the outcome could be catastrophic for us all, but especially for the UK pig industry.”

Ms Manzano’s comments reinforce the sentiments of the LCAG call to action for Defra ministers to address the risk posed by both commercial and illegal imports.

“I’d like to think Steve Reed, Dan Zeichner and co are listening here,” Mr Allen said, adding that the expectation is that ‘things will start to happen in early autumn’.

Key priority

A government spokesperson said: “Protecting UK biosecurity is one of our key priorities, and we are working with BCPs and traders to ensure checks are carried out effectively and swiftly. The UK has never had an outbreak of ASF.

“We are not complacent and suspected illegal meat products are routinely checked at the border to ensure they don’t reach our shores.”

Defra made it clear that it will continue to monitor and review the impact of the new controls, and work with industry, trade partners and enforcement agencies to try and minimise disruption and costs to trade, while protecting biosecurity.

It indicated it will work with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Port Health Authorities and BCP operators to ensure BCPs operate effectively and are resourced appropriately, and that it remains committed to agreeing an appropriate funding model with DPHA to tackle illegal imports, with a focus on the ASF safeguard measures.

Defra remains confident, however, that BCP capacity, including staff resource, is sufficient for the current volume of checks, which it says are operating 24/7 and carrying out the inspections required.

Checks are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk, with the risk of legitimate commercial loads not attending Sevington mitigated by ‘robust, data-backed enforcement options’, it said.