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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of diseases being spread into the UK from illegal imports of (1) bush meat from Africa, and (2) meat from eastern Europe; and what steps they have taken to mitigate those risks.

Defra monitors animal disease outbreaks worldwide and assesses the risk that they might enter the United Kingdom (UK) through legal or illegal trade in animal products. Its team of veterinary and risk experts provide rapid outbreak assessments to inform import decisions and enforcement action and undertake full qualitative risk assessments in certain cases. These assessments are published on gov.uk at www.gov.uk/government/collections/animal-diseases-international-monitoring.

Meat imported commercially via Border Control Posts is subject to local authority-led official controls to ensure that it complies with UK import conditions. The Home Office’s Border Force has lead responsibility for identifying and seizing meat imported illegally other than via Border Control Posts.

To further mitigate the risks, it is illegal in the UK to feed catering or domestic food waste to livestock, including pigs.