Irish ban non-EU animal products
Irish ban non-EU animal products
IRELAND has banned personal imports of all animal-based products from non-EU countries in an attempt to keep diseases such as foot-and-mouth out.
Current legislation allows for up to 1kg of meat and meat products to be brought in from outside the EU for personal consumption, though the commission recently proposed to ban this allowance later in the year.
But Irish farm minister, Joe Walsh, has decided the matter is too important to wait, and banned such imports with immediate effect. Citizens returning to Ireland from within the EU will also be limited to 10kg of personal meat and dairy imports.
Mr Walsh said there was a very real risk from illegal imports. Over 2000kg of illegal food was coming in through Dublin airport every month, including from countries with endemic F&M. The time had come to stamp it out. *