\n Hefty new charges on some imported food products<\/a> will also come into effect, threatening to reduce consumer choice and push up prices not long after UK food inflation fell from double-digit rates. The measures coincide with dire warnings about the possibility of price rises for bread and beer because of the impact of unprecedented rainfall on British grain harvests.\n <\/p>\n \n The new regime for food imports is perhaps the starkest example of the painful border bureaucracy that UK and EU businesses must contend with in the wake of Brexit.\n <\/p>\n \n Before leaving the EU, Britain enjoyed unencumbered access to the vast array of food produced in neighboring countries: cheese from France, peaches from Spain, artichokes from Italy. A steady stream of EU agricultural workers, meanwhile, was a boon to British farmers.\n <\/p>\n \n In the post-Brexit world, Britain\u2019s food supply is more vulnerable to external shocks, even as related labor shortages have at times forced local farmers to leave crops rotting because of a lack of workers to harvest them.\n <\/p>\n \n UK industry groups say the additional red tape could mean thousands of pounds in extra costs each month for a typical business, while hold-ups at the border will reduce the shelf-life of perishable products and increase food waste.\n <\/p>\n \n Eddie Price, the director of the Birmingham Wholesale Market, which houses around 50 businesses selling meat, vegetables, fish, and flowers, says traders are worried about higher <\/strong>costs and delays at the border.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere are concerns that (the food) will probably get held up at the point of entry for a couple of days and potentially reduce the value of the product and make it less available,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cThere is a real concern, particularly among the larger importers, that it could add several percentage points to their costs.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The UK government insists the new controls are crucial to ensure biosecurity and that checks will be phased in <\/strong>\u201cin a sensible and controlled way,\u201d with the focus initially on the \u201chighest-risk goods,\u201d a category that includes live animals.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt is important to remember the cost of our border checks is negligible compared to the impact of a major disease outbreak on our economy and farmers,\u201d a government spokesperson said<\/a> earlier this month.\n <\/p>\n Higher prices and border delays<\/p>\n \n The government estimates the new checks will cost British businesses about \u00a3330 million ($419 million) annually and increase food inflation by about 0.2 percentage points over three years.\n <\/p>\n \n But the Cold Chain Federation,\u00a0which represents businesses delivering goods that need chilled storage,\u00a0has come up with a much larger sum. It <\/strong>calculates that the new border measures <\/strong>could easily add more than \u00a31 billion ($1.3 billion) a year in costs to firms trading perishable produce, even before fruit and vegetables, which are likely to face fewer checks, are included.\n <\/p>\n \n An additional cost <\/strong>of that scale will \u201csignificantly increase food prices and reduce choice,\u201d the federation\u2019s CEO Phil Pluck wrote in a letter to environment and food minister Steve Barclay earlier this month.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe also believe that this will seriously threaten the viability of small and medium-sized enterprises operating within food retail, such as small garden centres, restaurants, and delicatessens,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n The British Retail Consortium, which represents major supermarkets among other retailers, is less concerned about the potential impact on food prices. Any additional cost from new checks and paperwork is \u201clikely to be small relative to the \u00a3200 billion of food sales in the UK each year, meaning it is unlikely to result in any large price rises,\u201d according to the organization\u2019s director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHowever, it is vital that border checks run smoothly when they are introduced in April to avoid any risk of delays or availability issues,\u201d he cautioned in a statement.\n <\/p>\n \n It won\u2019t help that trucks arriving from the EU through the Port of Dover and the undersea Eurotunnel, which handle the majority of UK food imports, will be directed 22 miles (35 kilometers) <\/strong>inland for physical checks at a different facility.\n <\/p>\n \n Around half of the food on British plates is imported, mainly from the EU \ufeff<\/strong>\u2014\u00a0the Netherlands, France, Ireland and Germany are the biggest suppliers. Warmer Italy and Spain are also essential providers of fresh produce, particularly as UK shoppers are used <\/strong>to being able to buy virtually any type of food all year found.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2022, almost 40% of fresh vegetables consumed in the UK came from the EU, according to official figures<\/a>. Some 53% was produced locally and the rest was imported from other countries.\n <\/p>\n \n When it comes to fruit, only 16% is produced domestically, with 28% sourced from the EU and 56% from the rest of the world.\n <\/p>\n \n This heavy reliance on food from other countries was thrown into the spotlight in February last year, when poor weather in Spain and North Africa caused shortages in Britain, leading supermarkets to impose purchase limits<\/a> on some staple items, including tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.\n <\/p>\n![\"Freight](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/gettyimages-1689511791-restricted.jpg\")
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