Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that appropriate biosecurity checks are conducted on (a) vehicles and (b) goods arriving in the UK from France, following the introduction of restrictions on personal imports of meat and dairy products.

This Government has stepped up measures to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD), following a further confirmed case in Hungary, close to the Austrian border.

The Government has already banned personal imports of cattle, sheep and other ruminants and pig meat as well as dairy products, from Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria earlier this year in response to confirmed outbreaks of FMD in those countries.

We recognise the risk posed by illegal imports via personal imports. Border force officers are responsible for detention and seizure of any illegal Products of Animal Origin (POAO) goods at points of entry and Defra is working closely with authorities at points of entry to help control the illegal movement of POAO into Great Britain in personal imports.

Current policy reflects our experience of responding to past outbreaks of animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control.