Officials in East Yorkshire have seized illegal pork imports at ports from various EU countries over the past few months.
A total of 80kg of imported meat has been seized in the region since measures to combat African swine fever were introduced in September, banning imports of pork above 2kg unless it is in verified commercial packaging with EU health marks.
This included four consignments of meat from different EU countries, a report by the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority said, according to a report by the Hull Daily Mail.
Laurence Dettman, the chief port health inspector, said these consignments of meat were either seized or surrendered voluntarily before being destroyed.
The authority had recently lodged a bid for more funding to help enforce the measures at Hull’s and Goole’s ports, he added.
“Certain pork and pork products which originate or have been dispatched from the EU pose an unacceptable risk to animal health in Great Britain. Working with the Food Standards Agency, we are planning a further joint local initiative with UK Border Force to target freight arrivals in our ports.”
This is the latest report of illegal meat being seized by the authorities in recent weeks. A tonne of pork was seized in early March in a joint operation between Border Force and the Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority (SCPHA), following vehicle searches of traffic from the EU entering the ports of Harwich and Felixstowe.
Officers at the Jersey Customs and Immigrations Service seized over 50kg of pork products, including sausages, cooked hams and minced meat, which had been brought over from Poland.
Last month, a consignment of illegally imported meat was discovered in the back of a white van travelling from Romania, via the Port of Dover, during a multi-agency spot check of vehicles in Lowestoft.