Britain is facing a perfect storm on food safety and security, according to experts, who have warned that the industry and government are risking exposing consumers to serious threats.
Professor Chris Elliott, who led on the horsemeat scandal response to government, warned the UK was “walking into the future with our eyes firmly closed” as it faced increased dangers on food safety and security fronts, from illegal meat imports to food fraud.
He was one of many experts from across industry, central government and local authorities who warned of the dangers of having insufficient border controls and a chronically under-resourced Trading Standards at a Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum conference this week.
The growing amounts of illegal meat making its way across the UK borders, which could not only pose a threat to consumers’ health but also bring in contagious diseases into the country, was one of the key issues raised.
In the first two months of 2025 alone, Dover Port Health Authority removed over 40 tonnes of illegal meat via border spot checks.
Katie Pettifer, CEO at the Food Standards Agency, said though the rise in illegal meat imports was “certainly a concern”: “Our National Food Crime Unit is really focused on this issue and working with partners in border authorities… we are doing quite a good job at picking up when these illegal imports come through commercial [routes].”
But “there needs to be more efforts going into the system” and increased partnership between Defra, Border Force and port health authorities, she said.
Read more: Illegal meat imports rise as officials warn of weak Brexit border controls
Una Kane, environmental health manager for Rother and Wealden district councils, also said illegal meat flooding the markets was a “really serious concern” to local authorities and Trading Standards.
“When times are hard people will buy meat out of the back of a white van in a car park, that’s the kind of thing that happens,” she said, noting that the cuts made to Trading Standards officers over the years have put additional pressure on local authorities carrying out food safety checks.
Illegal meat imports entering the UK also had “the potential to destroy our meat business”, Elliott warned.
He added Brexit meant “we’ve cut ourselves off” and no longer have access to “the huge amount of sharing of intelligence and resources with the EU”. He urged for more co-operation with Brussels, particularly through improved communications and food crime alert channels.
Additionally, food hygiene rating systems should be made mandatory in England as only “around 80% of businesses comply with the regulation” versus more than 90% in Northern Ireland and Wales, according to Elliott.
FSA lead Pettifer said the regulator was working closely with Defra in the development of its new food strategy, including on improving the current food hygiene ratings system – also known as scores on the doors – to strengthen food safety.
She agreed mandatory display of FHRS should be enforced in England: “We think this would be an excellent thing to do and have said so to ministers in successive governments. It needs primary legislation, which is proving to be a challenge.”
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Elliott also noted more needed to be done to regulate online fraud as so-called “dark kitchens where people make food and sell it online through some of the biggest online retailers” were a major concern.
He warned that the global economic and climate change crisis were fuelling food crime and that businesses were making risky decisions to cut costs.
All of these challenges posed a threat to the UK’s food security, he said, which still had not been addressed by the Labour government.
Defra ministers Steve Reed and Daniel Zeichner have often recited the “food security is national security” motto, but experts claimed not much had been done to support the industry since the new government came to power.
Kane said under-resourced local authorities “had not seen any money arriving as of yet”. It is also unclear when the incoming national food strategy will be unveiled.
Elliott added “it’s not that nothing has happened” since the change of government “but in the context of national food security we are going backwards – we are walking into a major storm for the future of UK national food security”, he said, noting the controversial farming tax had done nothing to support the British farming community.
“I’m deeply concerned about what Defra is doing. We are walking into the future with our eyes firlmy closed. Food security, food safety and food crime are super important.”
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