Import security questions raised

THE GOVERNMENT is guilty of “gross complacency” towards food security, according to Shadow Secretary of State for Food, Rural Affairs and Transport, Tim Yeo.

Speaking at the Dairy Event, Stoneleigh Park, on Wednesday (Sept 22), Mr Yeo said he believed Britain was too heavily reliant on food imports. 

“British food is produced to the highest standards in the world,” said Mr Yeo.

“And it‘s wrong to encourage those standards while allowing imports to flood in.”

Mr Yeo also highlighted the lax import controls which still allow the entry of 17,500t of illegal meat into Britain each year.

“We must look urgently at using new technology employed successfully elsewhere in the world to detect illegal meat imports,” he said.