BRUSSELS — Eurostar passengers bound for the U.K. are being encouraged to load up on banned pork products at duty free, despite strict rules meaning they risk a £5,000 fine on arrival.
Since April it has been illegal to carry foods like cured meats, cheese, and milk into Britain from the EU in a bid to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease to British farms.
But a wide selection of banned products are still on sale beyond security and passport control at Brussels Midi station — in a shop exclusively accessible to people traveling to London.
Travelers at Gare Midi who clear U.K. passport control are immediately faced with a shelf of Belgian pork products, including a 40-pack of cured sausages and a fridge pack of Bruges smoked ham — both unlikely to be eaten before departure.
But London-bound travelers who try to bring the items into the U.K. face fines of up to £5,000 in the most serious cases. No signs warning about the restrictions were visible near the shelves as of this weekend when POLITICO visited the station.
The sales are taking place right under the noses of U.K. Border Force officials, who are stationed five metres away checking passports for entry to Britain.
British farmers are terrified that another wave of foot-and-mouth will devastate their herds and ruin their livelihoods. Industry representatives worry that the situation at Gare Midi shows the biosecurity rules are not being taken seriously enough.
“It is alarming to see suggestions that pork is being sold at a point of entry into the U.K., despite it being illegal to bring pork and other animals products from the EU into the country due to ongoing foot-and-mouth disease prevention measures,” said Katie Jarvis, senior policy officer at the National Pig Association, the trade association for British pig farmers.
“Clearly the news of these controls, which have been in place for some time, has not been received and understood. We would urge Defra to be proactive with its communication around these personal import controls and ensure there is effective enforcement and consequences for those breaking the law.”
Going unchecked
U.K. Border Force sometimes carries out spot bag checks on arrival at London St. Pancras but the vast majority of passengers go unchecked, meaning there is a low likelihood of any purchased products being caught on arrival in London unless they are openly touted.
On launching the controls on April 12, U.K. deputy chief veterinary officer for international and trade affairs, Dr. Jorge Martin-Almagro, said they were “critical to limit the risk of foot-and-mouth disease incursion.”
Eurostar says it emails passengers before they travel warning them that they “can no longer bring” animal products including “cheese, cured meats or raw meats” into the U.K. due to temporary U.K. government restrictions.
A U.K. government spokesperson said: “This government will do whatever it takes to protect British farmers from foot and mouth disease. We are working closely with Border Force, ports, airports and international travel operators, to increase awareness of the new restrictions including via prominent signs.”
The ban on personal imports was introduced following the detection of foot-and-mouth cases in Hungary and Germany earlier this year.
A 2001 outbreak in the U.K. saw six million cows and sheep slaughtered on farms and restrictions on access to the countryside introduced in a bid to halt the spread of the disease.
The estimated cost of the episode to the British economy was £8 billion.
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