£25m set to tackle illegal meat imports (From Gazette & Herald)

£25m set to tackle illegal meat imports

THE Government this week announced £25m will be spent over the next three years to tackle illegal imports of meat and plants.

From April 11, Customs and Excise will take responsibility for anti-smuggling controls on illegal imports of meat and other animal products imported directly from non-EU countries at ports and airports.

The project will include four new 'national strike teams' of Customs officers and more detector dogs (up to six from the present number of two) whose priority will be meat and animal products.

The Veterinary Laboratories Agency and a firm of consultants, SafetyCraft, estimate an average of 7,500 tonnes of illegally imported meat per year. Of this, on average, 95kg is estimated to be infected with FMD virus and of that, on average 176g is ingested by susceptible livestock.

Scientists calculate that FMD-infected meat could, on average, result in one infection every 130 years.

Updated: 16:07 Wednesday, March 26, 2003