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Home > Farming Today > 09/12/2024 Port inspections risk spreading plant disease, dairy industry at 'tipping point'


	Podcast:		Farming Today
	Episode:		09/12/2024 Port inspections risk spreading plant disease, dairy industry at 'tipping point'
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:11:40
	Publish Date:		2024-12-09 06:00:00
	Description:		Fruit and veg importers say a shortage of government inspectors at ports is reducing the shelf life of products and the current system risks spreading plant disease. At the end of April, the Government introduced its new Border Target Operating Model, a post-Brexit system of biosecurity checks for goods entering the UK. It means products classed as high or medium risk have to be physically checked, including live animals and meat, as well as fruit and vegetables and some plant products. The Government built a checking facility at Sevington in Kent, and said they’d take a pragmatic approach to implementing the checks to avoid queues. Other companies have also built private inspection points, where they too use government inspectors. The British Association of Tomato Growers say they're seeing significant delays in seeds getting to farms and the logistics company, PML Seafrigo, told Farming Today they regularly see consignments of fruit which should be inspected waiting too long for government inspectors to arrive, only to been 'green lit' without a check. Dairy farming is at a tipping point and many may leave; that's the warning from the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. Its chair Robert Craig says farmers will need confidence to invest for the future, and at the moment many don't have it. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
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