Rules on food taken to EU

MMM (August, p14) referred to the Regulation (EU) 2019/2122 about taking food into the EU, but the author seemed unsure as to the meaning.

I have now read the regulation and my thoughts are as follows:

There is a provision in the regulation exempting (ie permitting) food in luggage for personal use, up to 2kg, but this is then overridden later in the regulation. The structure is to say all food is permitted unless it is banned.

For practical purposes:

Meat and dairy is banned (a small amount of dairy is acceptable as ingredients in bakery items, not a filling) Fish is OK

Vegetables and fruit are OK

But note, any attempt to simplify won’t have the precision of the original text. In general, the table in the annexe is the quickest way to what is permitted/not permitted. And the posters, which the regulation said should be displayed at ports, help to clarify, too.

The regulation has to be read as a whole to see its legal meaning. Some may think the sequence perverse, everything seems permitted and then some things are banned, but it is a structure not unique to this regulation.

Anne & Mark Tanner

In regard to food imports into the EU following Brexit, we are not the sort of people who would just take loads of stuff and hope we didn’t get caught, this is too stressful for me and holidays are supposed to be relaxing. I don’t want to run the risk of being stopped and submitted to a full search of my motorhome, which could take a long time if the customs officer is in a bad mood or wanting to prove a point.

There have been loads of letters and articles about this subject over the past months. The common problem is that people cannot find detailed information even from the authorities.

So, I thought I would share with you what I managed to find and my interpretation of it all.

I contacted many places, including DEFRA and the UK and French governments. The Europe Direct Contact Centre european-union. europa.eu did not give me detailed information, but sent me to this link

ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/ customs-4/union-customs-code/ national-customs-administrations_en so I could contact individual countries. I got in touch with the Netherlands Government as that was our arrival point by ferry.

The information I gleaned from DEFRA was:

No meat or dairy. But there are exceptions, such as you can take fish and fish products ( fresh, frozen, processed, dried, cooked, smoked and certain shellfish such as prawns and lobster) as long at the combined quantity does not exceed 20kg.

The following products are also exempt from the rules:

Bread, cakes, biscuits, waffles and wafers, rusks, toasted bread and similar toasted products containing less than 20% of processed dairy and egg products Chocolate and confectionery (including sweets) containing less than 50% processed dairy and egg products Food supplements packaged for the final consumer containing small amounts (in total less than 20%) of processed animal products (including glucosamine, chondroitin or chitosan, or both chondroitin and chitosan) other than meat products

Pasta and noodles not mixed or filled with meat product containing less than 50% processed dairy and egg products Soup stocks and flavourings packaged for the final consumer containing less than 50% of fish oils, fish powders or fish extracts.

Plant matter: All fresh plant material is banned, apart from bananas, pineapple, dates and coconuts.

The Netherlands Government gave me more clarification. Allowed: Products where the meat/dairy is no longer recognisable, ie, chocolate. Seeds and nuts intended for consumption, which must be apparent from the packaging

Dried plant material

Fruits processed into food products (cooked, blanched, baked, fermented, frozen, diced, and mashed)

So, my thoughts on the ‘not allowed’ products are:

Meat in any form

Recognisable dairy products Fresh, non-processed plant material Allowed products are:

Fish in any form up to 20kg

Dairy products containing less than 20% of processed dairy; this includes bread, cakes, biscuit, pasta, etc Spreads with less than 20% dairy Chocolate and confectionary, as long as it is less than 50% dairy

Plant products, frozen, tinned, cooked, dried and processed.

We took with us:

Soya yoghurt, almond milk, clover spread (less than 20% buttermilk), baked beans, tinned soup, bread, biscuits, scones, snack bars, nuts (roasted/blanched), crisps, dried fruit, dates, bananas, frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, hot chocolate powder, jam, ketchup, sauces, meat gravy granules (according to the label it doesn’t contain meat), seasonings, pickle, olive oil, tinned fish, tinned soup, fresh fish, porridge, cereals, flour, fruit juice.

We made sure that, as much as possible, everything was in the original packaging.

On leaving the ferry at passport control, we were asked if we had anything to declare. You had to get in a red lane or a green lane, but the directions weren’t very clear; my husband didn’t see it at all, but we did end up in the green lane.

We saw a car being searched and they had a lot of fresh fruit/veg that was taken away and dumped.

So, on arrival all we had to buy was meat, milk, fresh veg, salad and fruit. I’m hoping this helps in some small way to clarify things for your readers.

Rosey McGregor