Animal Plant Health Agency
This page provides details on particular issues or changes that importers and exporters may need to be aware of.
You can view all of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defras) guidance and forms for:
Defras animal disease monitoring collection covers major, notifiable or new and emerging animal disease outbreaks internationally and in the UK.
African swine fever (ASF) in the EU and EFTA states
Individuals can only bring pork and pork products from the EU, EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), Faroe Islands and Greenland into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) for personal consumption where the products:
- have been produced and packaged to commercial standards
- bear an identification or health mark or commercial labelling if they are animal by-products
- weigh less than 2kg per person
This is because some pork and pork products that originate from or have been dispatched from these countries pose an unacceptable risk to animal health in Great Britain. This is due to the spread of African swine fever in Europe.
The following safeguard measures give effect to this decision. These are published on behalf of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (England) and the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, Trefnydd (Wales) and the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands (Scotland).
These special measures apply from 27 September 2024 until they are revoked or amended.
Special measures from 1 September 2022
The measures applying from 27 September 2024 replacethe special measures from 1 September 2022. These prohibit the personal import ofpork and pork products over 2kg from entering Great Britain unless they have been produced to?EU?commercial standards.
The following safeguard measures apply from 1 September 2022. These are published on behalf of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (England), Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd (Wales), and the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands (Scotland).
Read the:
Preventing the spread of ASF
Defras African swine fever guide covers how to spot ASF, what to do if you suspect it and measures to prevent its spread.
For more information see:
- ASF virus in Europe outbreak assessments
- the map of restriction zones in place across Europe
- Bringing food into Great Britain: Meat, dairy, fish and animal products
Sheep pox and goat pox outbreak in Bulgaria
Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has temporarily suspended the imports of the following ovine and caprine commodities from Bulgaria:
- live animals
- germplasm
- fresh or chilled skins and hides
This follows an outbreak of sheep pox and goat pox that was confirmed on 4 September 2024. Bulgaria has now lost its status as free from sheep pox and goat pox as a result of this outbreak.
Read the live ungulates, ovine and caprine ova and embryos and ovine and caprine semen lists ofEUandEFTAcountries approved to export animals and animal products to Great Britain.
For restrictions on fresh or chilled skins and hides, the safeguard declarations below give effect to this decision. These are published on behalf of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (England), the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands (Scotland) and Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd (Wales).