Meat Industry Ireland (MII) is warning that Brexit is not only causing major disruption, but also huge additional cost and paperwork burdens.

The meat factory representative body highlighted a number of concerns in its submission to the Joint Committee on Agriculture - titled Brexit’s impact on the Agri-Food Industry.

It said it understood that the direct route to continental Europe is adding between €500 to €800 per truck and, depending on the route, costs could have increased by 40%.

It also pointed out that the additional SPS checks meant that any EU (and Irish) products that derived from an animal, such as meat or dairy, now require an export health certificate (EHC) or veterinary certificate when entering a third county, such as Great Britain.

The Department of Agriculture estimates that 350,000 extra EHCs will be needed every year now to accompany Irish food exports into Great Britain.

MII called for an automated version of the export checking system TRACES to be introduced as soon as possible to allow for a smoother checking process.