Concerns have been expressed about the potential difficulties those exporting certain processed meat products to the UK may face post-Brexit.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) beef chair Edmund Graham said technical difficulties under EU regulations could give rise to the issues once the UK leaves the EU on 1 January 2021.

“A pre-existing EU regulation which restricts the import of meat preparations, including minced meat and sausages, to frozen-only product could have major ramifications for our exports,” Graham said.

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“The problem is that the UK is likely to impose the same rule in return. That impacts us big time. Key markets such as supermarkets do not usually want frozen product. We could, in theory, get around it by exporting sides of beef and doing the additional processing in the UK but it adds a lot of risk.”

Solution

The ICSA is calling on the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to exert maximum pressure at EU level to find a solution to the problem as soon as possible.

“It is very unfortunate that this issue is only coming to light at this late stage,” the ICSA beef chair concluded.

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