Fera Plant Health will be introducing changes to its procedures for plant health inspections at certain ports of entry, following the increased provision of inspectors at these sites.

The changes will come into force from the end of March/early April for Heathrow and Manchester and will include significantly increased levels of physical inspections and changes to current working patterns. In due course the changes will be introduced at Gatwick and other ports as more Inspectors are recruited.

The Fresh Produce Consortium is organising a series of briefings with Fera to help members understand the changes.

Two briefings will be held on 22 February for importers and agents who use Heathrow.

The first will take place at 10am at Western International Market with the second later that day at 2pm at Perishable Movements Ltd.