UK food exporters demand ‘urgent’ action over post-Brexit vet shortages

UK food exporters demand ‘urgent’ action over post-Brexit vet shortages

The food and drink industry is demanding “urgent action” from the government to tackle a severe shortages of vets to process UK food exports after Brexit.

Industry groups warned that a sharp decline in EU vets registering to work in the UK since Brexit, coupled with an immense increase in paperwork for exporters, was creating an “unsustainable” staffing squeeze.

Food producers estimate that Brexit-related bureaucracy, which has seen the number of official export forms to be filled increase 12-fold since January 2021, is costing the industry £60mn a year.

Qualified vets are required to sign off the highly detailed export health certificates, or EHCs, needed to send food to the EU after Brexit, putting huge pressure on the UK’s network of vets, according to the British Veterinary Association.

The number of EHCs increased from 29,000 in 2020 to more than 288,000 in 2021, according to official government figures, requiring the equivalent of 580,000 hours of work for vets.

James Russell, senior vice-president at the BVA, said the nosedive in EU veterinary registrants since Brexit, coupled with soaring demand for veterinary certification, was creating “a storm of shortages” in the profession.

He added that shifting vets from farm work to export certification work was just “robbing Peter