Britain is sleepwalking into its biggest food safety crisis since the 2013 horsemeat scandal, a damning Government report has revealed.
‘Alarming amounts’ of illegal meat have been smuggled into the UK which could be contaminated, MPs warned.
Last year alone, 235,000kg of potentially dangerous animal products entered the country, with gangs illegally importing through airports, sea ports and even passenger vehicles through the Channel tunnel, they said.
The unhygienic and unrefrigerated meat does not go through sufficient quality checks leaving consumers at risk of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that could cause severe food poisoning.
Animal diseases, such as foot and mouth disease, have also surged ‘at home and abroad’ in recent months, the report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, said.
It comes as British tourists were banned earlier this year from bringing cured meats and cheeses back into the UK from Europe, because of an outbreak of the disease on the continent.
The report did not outline the types of illegal meat imported and where they originated from in full detail, but they include beef and pork stuffed inside cardboard boxes and defrosted chest freezers.
One port worker even told the committee they found an entire pig stuffed inside a suitcase—its legs cut off badly so that it could fit inside.
Last year alone, 235,000kg of potentially dangerous animal products entered the country, with gangs illegally importing through airports, sea ports and even personal baggage and passenger vehicles through the Channel tunnel, MPs said
Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP and chair of the committee, said: ‘Every day, vans laden with undeclared, unhygienic and unrefrigerated meat are rolling through our ports for distribution and sale in Britain.
‘It would not be an exaggeration to say that Britain is sleepwalking through its biggest food safety crisis since the horse meat scandal.
‘A still bigger concern is the very real risk of a major animal disease outbreak.
‘The single case of foot-and-mouth disease in Germany this year, most likely caused by illegally imported meat, cost its economy one billion euros.
‘We are calling on this government to get a grip on what has become a crisis, by establishing a national taskforce with proper leadership and a strategy, boosting food crime intelligence networks, creating and enforcing real deterrents to tackle the criminal enterprises involved and equipping port health and local authorities with the resources and the powers they need.’
In 2013, police raids on meat facilities found meat from British horses in a range of takeaway burgers and kebabs, as well as processed beef products sold at UK supermarket chains.
According to the report, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) claimed that intelligence led checks are being performed at the border.
But the committee said the reality on the ground showed their were limited checks, strained enforcement capability, and port facilities unsuitable for seizing significant volumes of potentially contaminated meat.
Alistair Carmichael, chair of the EFRA Committee, said: ‘Every day, vans laden with undeclared, unhygienic and unrefrigerated meat are rolling through our ports for distribution and sale in Britain’
In March, they visited the Port of Dover and witnessed a van being searched with meat found packaged in plastic bags and newspaper, stowed in cardboard boxes and in a defrosted chest freezer.
The Committee was greatly concerned to see the inadequate conditions the Border Force facilities at the Port with limited ability to decontaminate inspection areas and no dedicated handwashing facilities.
One worker told MPs they had ‘found an entire pig stuffed inside a suitcase; its legs cut off badly so that it could fit inside’.
Workers from Dover Port Health Authority (DPHA) also told the Committee that, ‘there are literally hundreds of targeted vehicles driving straight past as we do not have the resources to stop and search’.
Committee members also witnessed a van containing meat being searched by Dover Port Health Authority officers.
The van was Moldovan and its driver Romanian, indicating meat had potentially travelled for over 1,000 miles from Eastern Europe.
‘Alarming amounts of meat and dairy products are now being illegally imported to Great Britain for both personal consumption and sale,’ the report said.
‘Criminal smuggling operations are largely responsible for this and are bringing in products of some of the greatest risk.
Salmonella is a group of bacteria that infects the gut of farm animals – and typically affects meat, eggs and poultry
‘Meat is arriving in unsanitary conditions, often in the back of vans, stashed in plastic bags, suitcases and cardboard boxes.
‘This meat is finding its way to our high streets, farms, markets, restaurants and kitchen tables, demand driven by the cost of living crisis as well as cultural preferences.’
It comes as health officials have this year have also sounded the alarm over the surge in deadly bacteria linked to food poisoning.
In April the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned cases of listeriosis were up 13 per cent on the five year average.
Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium listeria monocytogenes.
Shiga toxin-producing E.Coli (STEC)—a rare strain of the diarrhoea-causing bug—had also surged seen ‘since the Covid pandemic’.
According to the annual report, other bacterial infections rose including yersinia increased from 454 to 660 and cyclospora cases almost doubled from 61 in 2023 to 123 in 2024.
Between 2022 and 2024, Campylobacter laboratory reports rose 27 per cent between 2022 and 2024, with 70,300 cases.
And separate UKHSA data released last month found salmonella cases have surged in the first three months of 2025, up on 2023 and 2024.
Salmonella is a group of bacteria that infects the gut of farm animals—and typically affects meat, eggs and poultry.
The nasty bug usually also causes sickness and a fever that clears up in days. However, it can be fatal.
Those most at risk at suffering severe illness from a salmonella infection include those with weakened immune systems such as children and the elderly.
If people become seriously ill, they may need hospital care because the dehydration caused by the illness can be life-threatening.
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