Officers seize 15kg of pork at Yorkshire docks due to African swine fever fears

Officers from the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority and Border Force seized the goods, including sausages, from arrivals to King George Dock in a joint operation in November.

Chief Port Health Inspector Sally Johnson said they were pleased to be able to remove potentially unsafe meat from the food chain and protect animal health.

The seizure of the goods comes as part of wider efforts to try and stop ones potentially contaminated with African swine fever from entering the UK.

Controls were introduced in 2022 to try and prevent infected pig meat from being brought into the country in passengers’ luggage and vehicles, including those of tourists.

Unregulated pork products with a combined weight of more than 2kg are prohibited and those from EU countries can only be brought in if they are complaint with commercial standards.

They were introduced in 2022 following the spread of African swine fever to some European countries, with cases reported in Greece, Romania, Italy, Hungary and Sweden.

The virus poses no threat to human health but it can kill pigs within a week of infection and the deaths of pigs in Europe disrupted the meat industry last year.

The Government has said the disease poses a significant threat to the UK port industry because there is currently no vaccine available.

The chief inspector said: “The operation targeted both commercial imports of pork arriving at the port of Hull within freight and personal imports arriving in vans and tourist vehicles, with arrivals from African swine fever infected areas prioritised as highest risk for inspection.

“We are pleased that the joint operation with Border Force succeeded in the removal of non-compliant products from the food chain.

“The intelligence gained during the exercise will be used to assist the Authority in focusing resources and surveillance efforts more effectively to ensure that we are assisting in the protection of animal health nationally by the removal of potentially unsafe meat and meat products at the point of entry.”