[ad_1]
EU and UK officials are in late-night talks to avoid a possible two-way ban on a wide range of foods, including sausages, minced meat and ready meals, which are moved between Britain and the island of Ireland on next year, as RTÉ News has learned.
According to EU regulations, there are restrictions for certain meat products from outside the European Union.
Therefore, such products would be banned from entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain as it will continue to apply EU food safety regulations from 1 January under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
However, the UK has indicated that it will in turn apply reciprocal restrictions to such food from Ireland.
This is because the UK has said it will replicate the EU’s food safety regime, including the range of EU restrictions on certain meat products.
Latest Brexit Stories
EU and UK officials are engaging in technical talks to find a way to fix the problem, which has come to light in recent weeks. It is understood that no solution has yet been found.
Industry sources have warned that the problem could pose a major disruption to existing meat supply chains between the island of Ireland and Great Britain.
According to EU food safety regulations, products of animal origin from outside the EU must be frozen, which means that certain meat products, which are fresh or chilled, are not allowed.
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, these products would be prohibited from entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The list of prohibited foods includes refrigerated ground beef, ground pork or sausages, and also frozen or refrigerated poultry (poultry attracts stricter rules).
Any fresh meat products would also be banned, including minced meat and meat preparations, which are sourced from the EU and then exported to Britain, where they are cut or minced and re-exported to Northern Ireland.
This last prohibition is due to the fact that only the country in which the animals are slaughtered can provide the zoosanitary guarantees to certify the product.
There are more restrictions on uncooked, unprocessed, and refrigerated hot dogs.
Refrigerated ready meals, such as meat lasagna, will be prohibited if they include raw meat and are refrigerated but not frozen.
Industry sources say the broader restrictions could be extended to a variety of foods including seed potatoes, seeds, breaded chicken, hot dogs, fresh ground beef, stuffed pork, marinated meat, barbecue products, meatballs, meatballs from turkey, minced lamb, kebabs and flour with fortified additives.
Officials have confirmed to RTÉ News that because the UK has said it would mimic EU food safety rules, then reciprocal restrictions could apply to products moving from Ireland to Britain.
In general, any meat product entering the EU must be accompanied by an export health certificate, signed by a designated veterinarian in the exporting country.
Such certificates are not available for prepared meat products that are not frozen, while other products are subject to an absolute ban.
EU officials say the ban on such products remains even if a third country is listed as a safe country from which to import food. They insist that the EU’s food safety regime is there to protect consumers.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has confirmed the problem.
In a statement to RTÉ News, the department said: “EU regulations establish model health certificates for meat preparations that must accompany all imports of such products into the EU.
“The relevant regulation requires that these meat preparations be frozen and does not currently provide a certificate allowing the importation of fresh or chilled meat preparations into the EU,” the statement said.
The UK has said it will start implementing its own food safety and animal health regime from April 1, 2021.
However, London has indicated that from that point on it will effectively copy EU food safety regulations, including the use of export health certificates based on EU certificates.
Ireland’s Department of Agriculture said: “While the UK has yet to publish its import health certificates, it has said that it intends to use the EU import certificates as the basis for the certificates they will use for the EU. [ie; Irish] exports to Great Britain “.
The effect of copying the EU rule book would mean that any bans on sausages, ground meat and chilled ready meals entering Northern Ireland would be matched by a similar ban on such foods sold by Irish meat producers entering Britain. .
Sources have said that whether or not there is a ban, there could be a capacity issue given that Irish vets would have to approve large volumes of export health certificates for Irish meat shipments going to the UK from April 1 .
In 2018, Ireland exported 335,000 tonnes of beef, pig, sheep and poultry meat worth € 1.3 billion to the UK, according to the Central Statistical Office (CSO).
EU and UK officials have been discussing the issue for several weeks.
According to a government statement: “The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Affairs is closely following these discussions given their potential impact on the agri-food sector.”
An official familiar with the matter said: “It is becoming clearer that this would be a two-way thing.
“If the ban [on such foods entering Northern Ireland] it is a consequence of EU law, and the British are going to say that we are going to apply the same rules in the opposite direction, which people would say is reasonable.
“So the effect of that [means] the very acute problem with these raw and refrigerated meats: there would be restrictions there. “
The issue is part of a series of challenges that northern and southern retailers will face once Brexit takes effect on January 1.
There is a general problem of how Northern Ireland supermarkets will deal with large volumes of mixed food shipments, many of which will require export health certificates and customs declarations, coming from Great Britain.
The issue is being addressed through the EU-UK Joint Committee, which is tasked with implementing the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Northern Ireland Protocol.
London has sought extensive exemptions from EU food safety and animal health regulations so that food shipments going to supermarkets in Northern Ireland do not face full physical checks and require expensive export health certificates.
British officials have suggested that the internal stock tracking systems used by supermarkets should provide a degree of peace of mind to the EU when it comes to food safety and the tracking of any food products causing problems.
They are also pressuring the European Commission to use a World Trade Organization (WTO) mechanism that officials say could also provide reassurance.
British sources say the UK has agreed to uphold the EU’s food safety and animal health standards from January 1.
They say that if London decides to deviate from any of those rules, then the EU could alert the WTO and trigger a consultation period, during which nothing would change.
UK sources say that period could last between six and nine months.
Combined with a self-audit by supermarket and retail chains, officials say, this should mean that the strict spectrum of EU controls should not be required for supermarkets in Northern Ireland.
The European Commission has declined to comment.
[ad_2]