Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the safety of imported food under the Border Target Operating Model.

The Government’s absolute priority in delivering the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) is to protect and enhance food safety, and plant, animal and public health. The BTOM sets outs out a risk-based, proportionate regime of controls which systematically assesses the inherent biosecurity or public health risk presented by an import, together with the prevalence of relevant pests and diseases and our confidence in the exporting country’s production standards and health controls. This assessment allows us to set controls at the most appropriate level and focus on the areas of highest risk to ensure food safety.