Speciality Food Magazine June 2024

3 specialityfoodmagazine.com paperwork is “confusing, arduous, costly and causes delays”. After shipping seamlessly fromMilan twice a week for the past 10 years, now the deli must place orders 24-48 hours earlier, meaning fresh products “can lie around for an extra 24 hours before they are cleared. Large supermarkets have the manpower and resources to tackle this pointless bureaucracy. Small businesses struggle.” Nick Carlucci of Italian food importer Tenuta Marmorelle added costs would have to be passed on to fine food shops. Importing just one pallet of charcuterie could cost £432 more than before Brexit. “We do our best to absorb as much as we can, but we have to pass it on to our customers, which are farm shops, food halls and delis.” For example, B ritain may have voted to leave the European Union nearly eight years ago, but many rules and requirements are only now being put into place after years of negotiations and delays – and they’re causing headaches for the food and drink industry. On 30th April, physical border checks were introduced for ‘medium risk’ imports as part of the government’s Border Target Operating Model. The new rules require European businesses exporting certain plant and animal products to the UK to submit paperwork known as health certificates, signed by vets, as well as being subject to physical checks. But it is “unclear” how prepared businesses are for these changes, and there is still confusion and the cost of a 150g tray of Parma ham could rise by 4%, Reuters reported. Mark Lynch, partner at corporate finance house to the consumer industries, Oghma Partners, suggested the rules were “taking Brexitism too far”. He said, “The government has insisted on introducing border checks for what, pre-Brexit, was considered OK to import without checks. The evidence suggests that these checks will be introduced in a half-hearted manner, will reduce choice and increase costs.” As part of the border rules, the government also confirmed a new ‘common user charge’ for importers of up to £145 for ‘mixed consignments’ that arrive in the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel. ‘Not for EU’ labels Another issue causing concern in the industry is the requirement to label meat and dairy products sold in the UK as ‘Not for EU’. The label is designed to stop products sold in Northern Ireland from ending up in the EU, ie the Republic of Ireland, as part of the Windsor Framework. However, the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) estimates the extra labelling requirements will cost between £150m-£200m. What’s more, consumers have been left confused about what the label means, questioning whether the British products are of a lower standard than required by the EU. While the labels were introduced in Northern Ireland on meat and some dairy products in 2023, they will continue to be rolled out in the rest of the UK in 2024, and in 2025, there are plans to add the labels on fruit, vegetables and fish, too. The FDF warned the labels will “almost certainly result in growth being reversed in our largest export market [Ireland].” Over 2023, Ireland became Britain’s first export market to reach £4bn, up 6.4% from the previous year. Balwinder Dhoot, director of industrial growth and sustainability at the FDF, said the introduction of ‘Not for EU’ labels across the whole of Britain will “undermine” trade with EU markets. “It’s baffling why the government would want to implement something so damaging, that will reduce investment and push up prices for shoppers, whilst delivering a real blow to our exports just at the time when our businesses need more support,” he said. The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), meanwhile, said the labels had “damaging and at times ridiculous consequences”. “Apart from the significant and unnecessary cost, all of this will lead to a two-tier market in GB with consumers wondering why some goods have the ‘not-for EU’ label and some do not. They may presume that the former are produced to a lower standard; a ‘not good enough for EU label’,” said Peter Hardwick, trade policy adviser for the BMPA. uncertainty about exactly how and when the borders checks and costs will be fully implemented. How the border rules are impacting fine food shops Speciality retailers have warned that Brits will lose access to artisan food from the Continent because of the cost of the border checks. Panzer’s Delicatessen told Reuters news agency it has already lost 37 suppliers from the EU since 2021, and more could quit following the introduction of the physical checks and charges – leaving shops and consumers with less choice from smaller, often traditional, heritage producers. In a post on social media, Panzer’s said post-Brexit Border checks and labelling rules threaten fine food trade with EU Post-Brexit border checks are set to prove costly for speciality retailers and risk limiting access to artisanal European food, while labelling requirements could lead to more barriers to trade