Illegal meat still floods UK
Illegal meat still floods UK
By Mike Stones
ILLEGAL meat imports arrive in Britain through the post, DEFRA has told farmers weekly.
Since last April, nearly 160 packages containing almost 170kg of illegal meat have been seized by Customs officials in postal deliveries from 19 countries.
"Most seizures are probably a case of someone (from abroad) sending granny some smoked rat rather than widespread smuggling," said a DEFRA spokesman.
"Suspicious packages may have attracted attention because they were large and squashy rather than because they were soaked in blood."
Sausage, salami and biltong were the most common animal products. About 90 illegal deliveries arrived from Bulgaria and nearly 20 from South Africa.
Anger, but not surprise, was the reaction of the man who supervises animal materials at Heathrow Airport to DEFRAs admission.
Clive Lawrance said: "They may be only small packages but so were the ones containing anthrax which killed postal workers in Washington. Why are our authorities being so head-in-the-sand about the threat to human and animal health from illegal meat imports?"
Mr Lawrance feared smugglers had long exploited Britains postal service. He had heard reports of postal workers at Consignias Mount Pleasant sorting office and at the Coventry parcel depot complaining of packages weeping blood and other liquids.
But Vincent Caluori, mail centre manager at Mount Pleasant, denied that illegal meat posted into Britain posed any health risks. "We handle 70% of all international mail coming into the UK and Im not aware of illegal meat imports being a problem." Mr Caluori added that he would be "very surprised" if illegal meat could avoid attention.
A Consignia spokeswoman added: "If people put things in the post we have an obligation to deliver them." It was the responsibility of HM Customs to intercept illegal items, she said.
But a spokeswoman for HM Customs said: "We have never found meat in anything other than packages labelled (as containing) meat." Although people do try to send meat through the post, they do not necessarily try to smuggle it.