Smuggling: Meat Mr. Paice To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many seizures of illegal meat imported into the UK were made in each year since 2001, broken down by (a) country of origin and (b) product type; and what the total weight seized in each year was. Jonathan Shaw I have been asked to reply. During the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002, the number of seizures of illegal meat was 1,242 and Weight (kg) was 18,955. Statistics by specific region are not available for that period. Seizures of illegal meat for 2002 to 2007 are listed by region in the following table. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |2002-03 |2003-04 |2004-05 |2005-06 |2006-07 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Region ID|Region name |Number of seizures|Wgt (kg)|Number of seizures|Wgt (kg)|Number of seizures|Wgt (kg)|Number of seizures|Wgt (kg)|Number of times seized|Wgt (kg)|Vol (ltrs)| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 |Eastern Europe |343 |1,998 |838 |4,479 |1,487 |5,355|2,734|11,261|3,125|11,040.98|9,920| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2 |Eastern Africa |91 |679 |243 |2,684 |286 |2,574|656|5,484|647|3,343.27|0| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3 |North Africa |10 |14,119 |53 |361 |113 |617|263|1,179|394|1,225.29|1,200| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |4 |Central Africa |14 |148 |61 |550 |78 |573|97|511|130|730.54|2,000| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |5 |Southern Africa |542 |1,536 |1,004 |2,235 |1,181 |2,699|1,541|2,352|1,625|2,359.40|1,550| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |6 |Western Africa |532 |3,331 |910 |34,267 |1,492 |10,664|1,915|11,639|2,059|8,918.23|2,640| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |7 |North America |124 |298 |402 |2,706 |720 |2,333|693|1,647|656|1,427.28|256| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |8 |Caribbean |237 |826 |279 |1,617 |451 |2,171|567|2,320|722|2,215.70|0| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |9 |Central and South America|43 |183 |102 |346 |132 |544|175|2,037|252|2,799.13|0| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |10 |Eastern Asia |549 |5,182 |1,486 |9,664 |2,807 |23,662|3,471|41,618|5,795|18,735.59|2,380| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |11 |Southern Asia |132 |501 |319 |1,709 |633 |3,002|757|4,208|1,205|7,746.80|1| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |12 |South East Asia |32 |107 |85 |212 |179 |486|143|1,715|184|380.67|0| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |13 |Near and Middle East |235 |1,421 |760 |10,364 |1,133 |14,484|1,527|18,401|2,100|9,579.50|400| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |14 |Oceania |31 |503 |127 |326 |131 |411|124|453|80|17,698.86|0| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |15 |European |19 |52 |60 |714 |8 |7,943|7|30|14|65.84|0| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |16 |Unknown |52 |417 |81 |500 |156 |1,146|156|1,280|266|2,059.64|520| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total | |2,986 |31,301 |6,810 |72,734 |10,987 |78,664|14,826|106,135|19,254|90,326.72|20,867| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following should be noted: (a) The aforementioned table shows by specific region the number, weight and volume of seizures of meat made from non-EU countries by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) at British points of entry (and by staff funded by DEFRA until 11 April 2003), those made by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland (DARDNI) at points of entry in Northern Ireland and those made by inland local/port health authorities where they were able to establish that the illegal products came from non-EU countries. HMRC have been responsible for anti-smuggling controls on products of animal origin (POAO) into Britain since 11 April 2003. On occasions more than one POAO product at a time will be seized (for example, meat, fish, dairy and honey). This is referred to as a ‘multiple seizure’. Up until 31 March 2006, this was only recorded as one seizure against the product of highest weight although the weight of the other products seized was included in the weight recorded for that product. However, the number of seizures by product for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 reflect the number of times each product was seized including those from a ‘multiple seizure’. (b) Seizures of illegal meat imported into the United Kingdom (UK) are recorded by region rather than specific country. This is because in some cases it can be difficult to determine the precise country of origin for a particular product and people can often travel to the UK via another country (for example to catch a direct connecting flight to the UK). What is clear is that illegal imports of meat (and other products of animal origin) enter the UK from all over the world. (c) Seizure figures are not recorded at the level of detail to determine the type of product (for example, chicken, pork etc.).