Before Brexit, it was just as easy to send a shipment of meat to Bavaria as it was to Birmingham, but since Britain left the EU, trade with the continent requires much more paperwork, cost and effort. Animal products, such as meat, have a particularly high number of checks and documents.
Before January 1, meat exporters based in the United Kingdom only needed to obtain a delivery note (CMR) and a delivery note before their goods could be loaded onto a truck and transported across the English Channel.
map
The Guardian’s analysis of information from the government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) reveals that sending an identical shipment to the continent now results in a 26-stage process for meat to be exported from Britain. for the EU.
Certification officers – usually veterinarians – need to check each shipment before departure. Merchants need to enter details in at least five databases, while obtaining various certificates, reference numbers, documents and permits – all resulting in a lot of paperwork.
This could explain why meat exports to the EU fell 92% in January, compared to the previous year, according to an analysis of the HMRC figures by the Food and Drink Federation.
The following is an example of all the possible steps an exporter faces to ensure that a shipment of meat from Britain reaches a customer in the EU. It includes a physical inspection of goods by customs in France, which currently takes place for about one in five shipments. If the cargo is rejected, delivery can be delayed and, in the worst case, the goods are re-exported or even destroyed.
Even after the trader has completed all the necessary steps to export his meat, smooth passage is not guaranteed.
As sausage maker Helen Browning’s Organics found out during her two attempts to transfer meat from Britain to her EU factory since January, any paperwork errors, missing information or sheer bad luck can cause shipments to be delayed by several days at French customs. Delays are not only costly for businesses, but can result in a much shorter shelf life for perishable items, making merchants unpopular with their retail customers or even leading to empty supermarket shelves.