This year’s Review recognises the progress that has been made and highlights the combined activities and effort of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Food Standards Agency (FSA), Animal Health and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Defra, HMRC and the FSA have continued to raise public awareness of illegal imports and the risks involved. Highlights include refreshing the Defra personal imports publicity campaign, online advertising and producing a documentary style film for BEN TV.

All bodies responsible for enforcement are working to prevent illegal imports of animal products. HMRC remains committed to taking risk- based measures to prevent illegal imports, and continues to target the routes that pose the greatest disease risk. Latest figures show that the number of seizures of illegally imported animal products made between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008 were 24,956.

Lord Rooker, Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming and Animal Health said, “We will continue to monitor and assess the changing threats from around the world, and work with HMRC/United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) to make sure that our enforcement activity is targeted at current risks.

“Defra and HMRC continue to undertake extensive publicity within the United Kingdom (UK), at the border and overseas. In January 2008, Defra re-launched its personal food imports campaign with a greater emphasis on trying to encourage behavioural change amongst travellers.”

The Review also covers the legal controls in place to ensure that animal products from non-European Union (EU) countries meet EU veterinary import conditions.

Further Reading

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You can view the Review by clicking here.