Food experts have warned that food fraudsters will be “alerted to the opportunities” of a no-deal Brexit.
The authors ofFeeding Britain: Food security after Brexitsuggest that the government is making contingency plans to suspend food regulations in the event of a no-deal Brexit, to ease the movement of food across borders.
One of the author’s report, Professor Tim Lang, said such an event would make it easier for fraudsters to export counterfeit produce to Britain.
“One could argue that this is sensible emergency planning, but it is also risky. Consumers would rightly wonder who was guaranteeing the safety and quality of the imported food they were buying,” said Lang.
“Criminals would be alerted to opportunities for food fraud. And the move would send negative signals to the EU, at a delicate time in Brexit negotiations. It could make the UK’s 3rd country status more problematic for exports.”
The report, also authored by Prof Erik Millstone, Tony Lewis, (Head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health) and Prof Terry Marsden (Cardiff University), takes stock of how food, food security and food regulation are being addressed by HM Government in the Brexit discussions.
Feeding Britainalso argues that an additional, unnecessary risk is being created by the Food Standards Agency’s decision to press ahead with major reform of UK food safety regulation, at a time when a stable regulatory regime should be in place as the basis of trade and Brexit negotiations.
Millstone says: ‘It is vital, in the context of negotiating and enacting Brexit, that the Food Standards Agency, and the UK government more generally, avoid any decisions, proposals or actions, that could adversely affect food safety standards in the UK or the reputation of the UK’s food supply.’
The authors also claim the government is driving a “fault line” into the UK food system, by only having close alignment for farming and manufacturing, but not for retail or foodservice.
Food service is currently the largest source of employment in the entire UK food chain and delivers more gross value added (29 per cent) than the other sectors (agriculture 7 per cent, wholesaling 11 per cent, manufacturing 26 per cent, retailing 27 per cent) according to the report.
