Cheesed off: ban on unpasteurised produce grates for importers
Britain's upmarket delis and Michelin-starred restaurants are on the brink of running out of Italian buffalo mozzarella, creamy French brie and fresh goat's cheese thanks to 'overzealous' border officials.
An outbreak of lumpy skin disease among cattle in Italy and France led the UK to temporarily ban imports of unpasteurised cheeses made in the two countries after May 23.
The disease is not dangerous to humans, and there are no known cases of transmission to other cattle by the ingestion of dairy products, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said import controls were imposed to protect animals' health in the UK.
Suppliers can still import unpasteurised cheese from the two counties, provided it was produced before May 23. They are also allowed to import pasteurised cheeses but this requires certain paperwork, including flow charts that show the temperatures and timings of the production process.
Upmarket cheese importers said supplies of continental cheese made before May 23 are running low. They reported that border officials are unable or unwilling to read flow charts in French and Italian — meaning lorries are held up until documents are provided in English.
Patricia Michelson, the founder of La Fromagerie, a retailer and distributor of fine continental cheeses, said she is losing thousands of pounds of stock that is spoiling at the border.
'Every week our lorries are getting delayed. Even though they're chilled, it's not in the right environment and things come in and have to be binned,' she said. 'We can't charge the producer, it's not their fault, they sent it all in perfect condition, it's what happens when it's stuck at the port.'
La Fromagerie supplies more than 100 upmarket restaurants, including Gordon Ramsay's site in Chelsea, west London, and nearby Core, which boasts three Michelin stars. It has just sent out its last stock of creamy French bries and supplies of other fine cheeses are in a 'precarious position'.
Michelson said: 'At the moment, we can't supply all the lovely, soft cow's milk cheeses like Camembert and brie. If people think that they can get what they want now, they won't, because everywhere will be slowly running out of stock. From Monday we will only be able to offer an English brie-style cheese.'
Logistics companies are furious at the situation because it is driving up costs as their drivers are getting stuck at the border.
Simon Goddard of Dornack, the chilled food distributor, said delays were having a 'devastating' impact on his clients, one of which incurred a £200,000 fine from a customer last week for a late delivery.
•
He blames incompetent border staff. 'We're trying to keep abreast of their requirements and uploading the additional documentation, but it's still not stopping the queries and the endless delays at port,' Goddard said.
'I raised a specific complaint to the director of port health [for Ashford in Kent], but I have neither received an acknowledgement nor reply. Specifically, we want to know what we are doing wrong so that we can correct any mistakes and ensure that our trucks with foodstuffs do not incur endless delays at the border.'
Michelson also blamed Defra, saying its policies were 'overkill'.
French and Italian cheese retailers were said to be 'carrying on as normal'
ALAMY
'In the EU, they've got rigorous controls, much more rigorous than ours, quite frankly, and their paperwork [and] and forms are really detailed,' she said. 'What Defra is saying is, 'we don't care about that. We want to produce our own certificates, showing the same things, so that we've got a box ticked.' It's completely nuts.'
She added that the most frustrating thing is that French and Italian cheese retailers are 'carrying on as normal'.
'In France our producers tell us they are selling as normal in areas not near to Chambéry, where the breakout happened. However, the UK takes a different view and we are now in a precarious position regarding shipments for all cheese — whether cow, goat, sheep, buffalo, whether pasteurised or not.
'The French just have a different attitude to it. But in Britain the bureaucracy and red tape is out of hand.'
Defra declined to answer questions about overzealous border officials, but insisted the restrictions should not have a 'significant impact' because most cheeses consumed in the UK were pasteurised.
'This government will do whatever it takes to protect British farmers and their herds from disease,' the department said.
'We have strengthened protections by temporarily suspending imports of a small amount of products from Italy and France.'
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