Top British restaurants and delis set to run out of cheese after 'overzealous' border officials slapped a ban on mozzarella and brie from Europe
A surge in cases of lumpy skin disease (LSD) among cattle in the continental nations prompted UK health officials to halt the importation of unpasteurised dairy products produced any time after May 23.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the ban was to protect the health of UK animals from disease, but critics and importers have labelled the move as 'overkill'.
And while the government says pasteurised cheeses are allowed through, cheesemongers say they cannot sell the very best soft cheeses from the continent.
Hard cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano which are also made with unpasteurised milk will also run into trouble while the ban is in effect.
Italy confirmed an outbreak of LSD last month on June 21, while France confirmed its own outbreak eight days later.
Health officials slapped a ban on the importation of live animals, germplasm such as sperm and embryos, offal, raw dairy products (including cheeses) as well as skins and all by-products unless they have been heat treated.
Fresh meat is not affected by the precautionary measure, nor is pasteurised cheese - though the latter requires paperwork detailing the temperatures at which the cheese was treated to ensure it is up to scratch.
Upmarket cheese importers say their supplies are running low - and have blasted border officials for refusing to accept documents for pasteurised goods because they have been written in French and Italian rather than English.
Patricia Michelson, the founder of La Fromagerie, a Marylebone retailer and distributor of artisan cheese, is losing thousands of pounds of stock to spoilage as a result.
It supplies the finest cheeses to more than 100 upmarket restaurants including the three Michelin-starred Core.
She told The Times: '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 (today) we will only be able to offer an English brie-style cheese.'
Simon Goddard of chilled food distributor Dornack further told the newspaper that Defra did not seem interested in helping suppliers, even when he asked what he could be doing to make importing valid goods easier.
He said: '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.'
A Defra spokesperson told MailOnline: 'This government will do whatever it takes to protect British farmers and their herds from disease.
'We have strengthened protections by temporarily suspending imports of a small amount of products from Italy and France, following outbreaks of lumpy skin disease across Europe.
'Unpasteurised cheeses are restricted, but as most Italian cheeses, such as Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Gorgonzola, are pasteurised this should not have a significant impact on supply chains.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
NHS cuts could lead to another Baby P or Victoria Climbie as safeguarding staff face axe, doctors warn
NHS cuts to key safety roles could trigger more abuse and child deaths, such as those of Baby P and Victoria Climbié, doctors and experts have warned. Medical staff responsible for safeguarding in their area are legally required to flag concerns about vulnerable patients, but their roles are at risk of being axed as local NHS bodies scramble to make government-imposed cost savings, doctors have told The Independent. Almost two dozen healthcare professionals, medical royal colleges, alongside children's charity the NSPCC, have written to Health Secretary Wes Streeting urging him to protect the roles. The letter to Mr Steeting, shared with The Independent, said: 'The NHS has a crucial role to play in protecting children. 'Given the scale and pace of reform, we ask you to urgently send a clear message to the public and all those who work to protect babies. This should guarantee that keeping children safe will remain a priority for the NHS and that ICBs will be fully resourced to carry out their child safeguarding duties.' The NSPCC warned that any cuts to safeguarding could result in a reduction in the tens of thousands of vital alerts already made by healthcare professionals every year - which has decreased since the pandemic, from 96,300 in 2020 to 91,370 in 2024. Dr Peter Green, chair of the national network of designated health professionals and doctors for child safeguarding, told The Independent there was a risk that cases such as Baby P, Victoria Climbié will occur more frequently as a result of any cuts. Dr Green said: 'There is a clear risk of those cases significantly increasing. The risk of those cases is obviously going to increase by not having the [NHS'] oversight and learning when things go wrong.' Baby P, Peter Connelly, died in August 2007 after suffering dozens of injuries at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and his brother. A review of the high-profile case revealed a series of failings before his death by authorities, such as healthcare professionals and Haringey Council. Eight-year-old Victoria Climbie was murdered in 2000, by her aunt and her boyfriend, and an inquiry into her death led to sweeping changes to child protection laws. It is not known how many NHS safeguarding roles are at risk, but all local NHS bodies must make 50 per cent cuts to staffing as a result of the government's plans to abolish NHS England. Safeguarding was listed in official guidance as one area that could be targeted. 'Medical neglect' Urging Mr Streeting to protect the roles, the NSPCC also pointed to cases where children have died following horrific abuse or neglect, such as three-year-old Abiyah Yasharahyalah, Star Hobson, aged 1, and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, aged 6. Abiyah died in 2020, having been starved by his parents and buried in their garden - a case which showed clear signs of 'medical neglect' was overlooked by authorities. The review into his care found agencies that came into contact with his family showed a "general lack of knowledge or assessment of the parents' belief systems", saw him kept on an extreme vegan diet, leading to an "insufficient understanding about the impact on his care". It concluded, his parents' culture and beliefs had a detrimental impact on his health, welfare and safety. He died from a respiratory illness, worsened by severe malnourishment, rickets, anaemia and stunted growth. According to the review, his parents failed to provide appropriate healthcare, ignored medical recommendations and cut off contact with health professionals who could support the child's condition. It also found opportunities for preventative care advice were missed as Abiyah was not brought to his health visiting assessments at one year old and two years old. A national review following Star's death in 2020 highlighted various gaps in the capacity of health services. One example given was significant increases in the workload for health visitors in the area that meant a pre-birth family health needs assessment was not conducted. And in Arthur's case, a limited capacity in children's mental health services before his death in 2020 may have impacted responses to his emotional and mental health needs. The NSPCC told The Independent that during the pandemic, health visitors who are key in spotting abuse were instead to work on Covid wards, and the 50 per cent still working as health visitors had their caseloads increased. In the same year, incidents of death or serious harm to children under one soared by almost a third in England. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We are working closely with NHS England to maintain the safeguarding of vulnerable children and ensure their wellbeing remains at the heart of healthcare delivery. 'By reforming the NHS organisations, we are removing duplication and driving up efficiency, so they can provide better services for patients. 'We expect NHS organisations to work together and with other agencies in the interests of children and young people.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Major UK project to tackle AMR closed by aid cuts
The Fleming Fund, a major British programme that helps tackle antimicrobial resistance in the developing world, has been forced to close because of the government's aid cuts, The Telegraph can reveal. The £265 million programme – named after Alexander Fleming the British scientist who discovered penicillin – was established in 2015 in response to a landmark UK study which found resistant infections would kill 10 million people every globally year by 2050. The fund was designed to tackle drug resistance at its source and support experts in hundreds of laboratories in developing countries that face the greatest threat from AMR. Termed the 'silent pandemic', AMR is directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths every year as bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens evolve to evade modern medicine. But it's not just a problem for the developing world – in England alone, 66,730 suffered from 'serious antibiotic resistant infections' in 2023. There are an estimated 30,000 deaths in the UK every year and, for many others, it changes their lives. Experts have repeatedly stressed that AMR does not respect borders – and often emerge in countries with less regulation surrounding antibiotic use both to treat illness and in agriculture. 'We are having to make choices that we don't want to have to make,' Baroness Chapman, the Minister of International Development, told the International Development Committee at an evidence session in parliament today. Baroness Chapman, who became Minister after her predecessor Anneliese Dodds resigned, has become the chief hatchet woman for the aid budget. Last month, she announced a 40 per cent cut in real terms of the UK's contribution to Gavi, the vaccine alliance which funds immunisations for half the world's children. 'We've had to make some really tough choices. But we've decided as a government that we want to invest in defence, because that's the world we are in,' she told The Telegraph at the time. Ashley Dalton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention in the Department of Health and Social Care, said that although the funding for the Fleming Fund has ceased, the government will continue with its 'partnerships' forged under the programme. It is currently unclear what this means. The Telegraph has contacted the Department of Health and Social Care, who funds the Fleming Fund, for clarification.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Slashing of UK's international aid more responsible than Trump's overnight cuts, minister claims
The UK's deep cuts to international aid will be carried out in a 'responsible and careful' way – not the 'overnight' slashes conducted most obviously by nations such as the US – the government has claimed. Charities and international aid experts have lined up to decry the UK cuts, first announced in February, which will bring spending from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of gross national income (GNI). A report also published on Tuesday by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact found UK aid spending overseas could fall to as low as 0.24 per cent once spending at home on asylum accommodation was factored in. But development minister Jenny Chapman has told MPs that 'not all aid cuts are the same and I think the way that we've done it… is slowly and in a considered way'. 'I would contrast that to the way that others have done it, where medications just stop being distributed overnight, where I know of warehouses with vaccines that there's no way of distributing,' Baroness Chapman said. 'That's a real problem and that will have a huge impact.' In the US, Trump cut roughly 80 per cent of foreign aid spending virtually overnight, in a move that could cause 14 million extra deaths by 2030. The speed of the cuts caused chaos as clinics closed, access to lifesaving medicines was disrupted and health staff didn't know if they could turn up to work one day to the next. Baroness Chapman added that the withdrawal of the United States from global health funding was proving a 'huge problem' but that, 'it isn't possible for us to backfill that capacity sadly'. Baroness Chapman also confirmed during the session of parliament's international development committee that a world-leading programme to tackle antimicrobial resistance was being cut and suggested a project giving millions access to contraception was under question. The scale of the UK cuts means they are expected to hit virtually all programmes. Even when it comes to the global vaccine alliance, Gavi, of which the UK has been a major champion and is now the biggest funder, its contribution this year fell by £400 million. Baroness Chapman said antimicrobial resistance and the risk of another pandemic were the two biggest threats facing the UK's health security, but public health and prevention minister Ashley Dalton confirmed during the session that the Fleming programme, which supports countries in Africa and Asia to monitor and prevent antimicrobial resistance, has already been cancelled. Antimicrobial resistance happens when antibiotics are used too much or incorrectly, causing germs to evolve resistance against them and creating dangerous illnesses that can't easily be treated with the available drugs. Resistant bug strains can cross borders and the phenomenon is estimated to kill a million people a year. Asked about a programme to family planning access and information to 2.6 million women and girls across West and Central Africa, Baroness Chapman said she was 'looking at it'. The minister has previously signalled that specialised programmes for women and girls may be hit hard by the cuts.
