Dutch TV information has aired footage of customs officers confiscating ham sandwiches from drivers arriving by ferry from the UK underneath post-Brexit guidelines banning private imports of meat and dairy merchandise into the EU.
Officers sporting high-visibility jackets are proven explaining to startled automobile and lorry drivers on the Hook of Holland ferry terminal that since Brexit, “you’re not allowed to deliver sure meals to Europe, like meat, fruit, greens, fish, that type of stuff.”
To a bemused driver with a number of sandwiches wrapped in tin foil who requested if he may possibly give up the meat and maintain simply the bread, one customs officer replied: “No, all the pieces will probably be confiscated. Welcome to Brexit, sir, I’m sorry.”
Subsequent time individuals let you know there is not any new friction on the borders due to Brexit, you may present them this Dutch TV clip of drivers being stopped and having their lunches confiscated. pic.twitter.com/B9eZfDWKFB
— OwenAdamsYT (@OwenAdamsYT1) January 10, 2021
The ban got here into power on New Yr’s Day because the Brexit transition interval got here to an finish, with the Division for Setting, Meals and Rural Affairs (Defra) saying travellers ought to “use, devour, or eliminate” prohibited gadgets at or earlier than the border.
“From 1 January 2021 you won’t be able to deliver POAO (merchandise of an animal origin) comparable to these containing meat or dairy (eg a ham and cheese sandwich) into the EU,” the Defra steerage for industrial drivers states.
The European fee says the ban is important as a result of meat and dairy merchandise can include pathogens inflicting animal illnesses comparable to foot-and-mouth or swine fever and “proceed to current an actual menace to animal well being all through the union”.
Dutch customs additionally posted {a photograph} of foodstuffs starting from breakfast cereals to oranges that officers had confiscated within the ferry terminal, including: “Since 1 January, you may’t simply deliver extra meals from the UK.”
The customs service added: “So put together your self in the event you journey to the Netherlands from the UK and unfold the phrase. That is how we forestall meals waste and collectively be certain that the controls are sped up.”
