National Farmers Union food standards committee chairman Michael Seals was in Brussels on October 17 to discuss farmers' and growers concerns about the threat of illegal food and plant imports.

Mr Seals, who was meeting European Commission officials from the health and consumer affairs directorate, is calling for tougher action to protect both the EU and the UK from plant pests and diseases as well as animal diseases.

Infections such as the mosaic virus and brown rot, which have been found in salads and potato crops in the UK in the past, have the potential to devastate commercial crops.

'The UK is part of the EU which effectively means that if we are to protect ourselves we need to ensure that European borders are also policed effectively,' said Seals. 'European trade with the rest of the world means vast amounts of food material cross its borders every daySWhilst the EU has acted to ensure that meat products entering the single market are properly inspected, plant products lack a harmonised inspection system and there are few if any controls on personal imports.' In an NFU survey last month, some 70 per cent of those polled had no idea what plants and foods they could and could not bring into the country legally. 'This has exposed a big hole in our national security,' warned an NFU spokeswoman.

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