00:00Hello, welcome to this special episode of Kent tonight on KMTV, where we're looking
00:26at the increase in meat smuggling at the port of Dover. Now, this September, the Environment,
00:31Food and Rural Affairs Committee released a damning report titled Biosecurity at the
00:35Border, Britain's Illegal Meat Crisis. It listed a number of failures at the border,
00:40which have created what they've called a superhighway of meat illegally coming into the
00:44country. Now, this poses a number of risks, but particularly to the nation's farmers.
00:49I went to meet one at Biddenden to hear his concerns.
00:53I'm here in Ashford to meet Hugh Richards to find out how illegal meat imports are affecting
00:58Kent's farmers.
00:59I'm Hugh Richards. Welcome to Pullenbaum Farm. I farm in the Weald of Kent. I've been farming
01:05here on my own since 1995 with beef cattle. Before that, my father started in the 50s and
01:11was tenant and then dairy farm up until 1995. The rise in the imported meat is something
01:17that's tickling along in the background and affects us here in Kent because a lot of it
01:22is coming in through Dover. Yes, it's a serious concern and a worry locally, but also it's
01:27a worry nationally because if a disease gets in and an infection gets in and blows up, you
01:31don't know where it's going to end up. If we should get infected with foot and mouth
01:36or swine flu, foot and mouth will affect my cows. And if it comes in across the channel,
01:40then they wouldn't just cull individual animals. They would cull all the cattle on the farm.
01:45So there's 220 head of cattle on this farm, 80 breeding cows, but the bulls would go, the
01:51cows would go and all these calves would go. With such devastating potential consequences,
01:56it's hardly surprising that organisations like the National Farmers Union have been calling
02:00on the government to do more to tackle Britain's illegal meat crisis.
02:05In order to do it, it's not just a question of having more checks. It's actually being able
02:10to carry out the checks properly because you've got cars coming in through Dover all the time.
02:17And so they've got to be given the amount of facilities they need to do the job properly.
02:22The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report highlights concerns that British farmers
02:27are being undercut by cheap, poor quality animal products.
02:32The reason our meat costs more is because we have a lot higher welfare standards. We're not
02:37allowed to use hormones. We have to record all the antibiotics we use, all the worms we use,
02:43all the antelomatics to treat the cattle.
02:45It's clear from speaking to Hugh that illegal meat smuggling can have devastating consequences
02:49for British farmers. The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak cost the public and private sector
02:54almost £14 billion in today's money. But how does meat smuggled in the back of a lorry
03:00or a van actually end up affecting a farm like this?
03:04So our reporter Josh McMinn has been reading the EFRA report and can answer that question.
03:09He joins us now. Welcome, Josh. So tell us, how does meat smuggled in the back of a lorry
03:15or a van end up affecting livestock with foot and mouth disease?
03:17So foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious disease. So say some meat comes from a country
03:23which has foot and mouth disease and it's been in contact with the illness. It will come here,
03:27maybe it touches someone's clothes or a vehicle or some farm equipment. And then once that gets
03:33into contact with livestock and it's among the livestock community, it will spread like wildfire.
03:38And like that farmer said in that package, I mean, it really requires drastic measures to stop.
03:43And I mean, foot and mouth is just one of 89 diseases which pose a high risk to the UK.
03:48And you've got the report here in front of you. Could you tell us a bit more about it?
03:52Yeah, so this is a report done by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee or EFRA.
03:58Confusingly, a very similar name to DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
04:02But two different things, DEFRA, the government body, EFRA, the committee. And it was really done
04:07in response to the massive increase in illegal meat smuggling we've seen in the last few years.
04:11So just running some numbers in 2022, 128 tonnes were said to enter the country. Two years later,
04:18in 2024, that almost doubled to 235 tonnes. And for Kent residents, it's an even bigger issue. If we look
04:25at stats for the port of Dover, I mean, it's almost tripled in that time. And so this report is really
04:31looking at why it's an issue and what they recommend the government to do to tackle that.
04:36And what are some of the shortcomings that were found in the report?
04:40So there's a couple of really big things. I mean, the first thing is that there seems to be no
04:44effective deterrent to people smuggling illegal meat. I mean, they can kind of just get away with
04:49it. There are fines that the Port Health Authority can issue. Some bodies can also prosecute. But the
04:55chief veterinary officer told the committee that she wasn't aware of any fines issued or prosecutions.
05:00Another problem, though, is that it doesn't seem to be the responsibility of any one body. So you've got
05:05DEFRA, you've got Border Force, Port Health Authority, Food Standards Agency, National Crime Unit,
05:11and they don't necessarily communicate and they don't necessarily solve the problem together. And
05:15so we've actually got really poor data on this. We don't know what kind of meat is coming in. And we also
05:20critically don't know where it's going. So that's a real concern.
05:24As you say, Josh, one of the big things we don't know is where this meat ends up. But
05:29Josh took to the streets of Kemp to try and find out. One of the reasons so much illegal meat is
05:37getting through is because of problems here at the Port of Dover. Port authorities can only check a
05:42small proportion of the trucks that come through their gates. Other drivers will get a text message
05:46telling them to drive to Sevington, 20 miles away. Let's go check it out.
05:50Now you might be thinking, what's to stop drivers from offloading their illegal meat on this drive
05:59between the two sites? Well, nothing. And this is something that the Port authorities are really
06:05worried about. Lucy Manzano, Head of Port Health and Public Protection, said it was like going to the
06:10airport without having your carry-on bags checked. So the numbers we have for illegal meat in ports might
06:15be way less than what's actually entering the country. But how is this influx of cheap,
06:20unregulated meat affecting local businesses? We spoke to William Ross, who runs the Tartan Butchers in
06:27Faversham. There was a particular time, I worked for a butcher's many years ago, maybe about seven
06:33years ago, and there was a gentleman who turned up in a black Range Rover and he approached, I was
06:42manager of the shop at the time and he approached me and said, I've got a pallet of this, pallet of this.
06:46The gentleman was not involved in the meat trade, I wouldn't buy from him because I stick with the
06:51people I know, sell quality and that's it. And I said to him, where are you getting it? And he wouldn't
06:57tell me where it's from. But if a gentleman like that on the street is just buying pallets of meat,
07:03there's no traceability, no nothing. We buy from trusted people on the market, people I've dealt with for
07:0910 to 15 years, and I wouldn't buy my meat anywhere else. It's just, it's not safe.
07:16The government's report into meat smuggling says there are still intelligence gaps about
07:20where illegal meat is being sold. So what can you do to make sure you're eating good quality meat?
07:25We as consumers of the meat product that we do, the carnivores, we have to buy from trusted sources.
07:32There's something in a butcher shop that is about pride. If everybody shopped at a butcher shop
07:37and ate every possible bit of the animal, rather than picking your cherry cut, such as your fillet,
07:45your sirloin, things like that, meat would become a lot affordable. It would stop
07:51people trying to make a quick bit of money on meat. While consumers can be careful not to buy
07:56untraceful meat, it's still ultimately up to the government to stop it from getting here in the first
08:01place. Earlier, I put some of the findings of our investigation and the effort report to Kevin Mills,
08:12the head of Dover District Council, which also runs the Dover Port Health Authority.
08:18You know, one of the things that we saw in that report that was of interest was the fact that the
08:22inland boarding facility in Sevington is 20 miles drive away from Dover Port. You know,
08:27what is to stop drivers not completing that journey? Well, anecdotally, we would say drivers
08:35aren't completing that journey. But what we've got to remember is what we're actually dealing with here
08:39is the illegal meat imports. That's got to be done at the point of entry. You control the border,
08:43strangely, at the border. And you did mention there that it's going to be a multi-agency response to
08:48tackle, you know, the larger issue. And the report did highlight that in the past, DEFRA and the Dover
08:54Port Health Authority had a dysfunctional relationship. That relationship, how is that
08:58looking now? It's a complete mood change. I mean, you know, they are very supportive of what we're
09:06trying to do. They realise we're trying to do this for the good of the nation. And I think that, you
09:10know, there's a view now that, you know, we cannot afford to see foot and mouth African swine food at
09:15the United Kingdom. And there was one case early this year in Germany. That's one case. And it cost the
09:21German nation one billion euros. You know, it would devastate not just the economy of this country,
09:27but it will devastate the farming industry in this country. So, you know, there's a responsibility on
09:31all of us. And I think, you know, DEFRA are well on board with that to try and prevent it. You know,
09:36some of us are old enough to remember, you know, fields of burning carcasses on the foot and mouth,
09:41and no one wants to see that again. There's nothing more depressing for somebody dealing with border
09:45control, you know, to be dealing with, you know, illicit meat, and then watching other vehicles go
09:50past, which you think, actually, I'd love to have been able to get in there as well,
09:53because they're definitely going to be at it. So, you know, there's a number of facets
09:57that we've got to approach. But, you know, it's very confusing for the public,
10:02this issue with all of the different agencies involved, you know, who is ultimately going to
10:07take accountability of the issue? I mean, at the end of the day, it's going to have to be DEFRA,
10:14because they're the government department dealing with it with overall responsibility.
10:18But what we're saying is give the powers to the Port Health Authority. We're a different case,
10:23this Port Health Authority, to any other in the country. We've got the short straights,
10:26you know, and that brings with it a lot of challenges. But, you know, give us the tools,
10:32and we'll do the job. And we will work with DEFRA, you know, to ensure that the levels of control
10:38far exceed what there is now, and give some assurance regarding protection to not just the country and the
10:44Treasury, because, you know, they'll be the ones that have to bear the cost should there be an outbreak.
10:49But the farming community, which, you know, at the end of the day, is not an easy business to be in.
10:55And, you know, they're looking over and seeing what's happening in Europe,
10:59and, you know, do not want it to come to the United Kingdom, and neither do we.
11:02Well, thank you so much for your time this morning, Kevin. I really appreciate it.
11:06It was good talking to you.
11:07No problem. Take care.
11:12You've been watching Kent Tonight's special on KMTV. Now, there's more news made just for Kent
11:17throughout the evening. And don't forget, you can always keep up to date with the latest news
11:21across your county by logging on to kmtv.co.uk. You can keep us on your social timelines by liking us on
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11:40then get in touch. We also have a series of special programmes which you can watch
11:45throughout the week or catch up with on our website. Goodbye.
11:58We'll see you next time.
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