No more ham for Londoners: the British government bans its entry.

LondonNo more ham for friends or family living in Great Britain. At least legally and temporarily. Starting this Saturday, people arriving from the European Union and other European countries will no longer be able to bring in a number of meat and dairy products. The ban, which aims to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, which is ravaging some countries in the east of the continent, affects both tourists and residents returning from their holidays. People entering directly from Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, Jersey, or Guernsey are excluded.

The restrictions on a practice that is far more common among those who frequently travel back and forth across the Channel include all types of pork, beef, sheep and goat meat, mutton, venison, and derivatives, such as sausages, as well as milk, butter, and all other formats. Also included are items such as sandwiches with meat or dairy fillings, cured meats, and raw meats, whether vacuum-packed or not, or whether purchased in duty-free shops before flying.

Currently, no cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been detected in the UK – the last outbreak was in 2007 – but this year cases have been confirmed in Germany in January and in Hungary and Slovakia last month. The British government had already banned imports of personal products from cattle, sheep, and other ruminants, as well as pork and dairy products from these three countries. The restriction has now been extended to the entire EU, as well as Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland.

However, up to 2 kilos per person of powdered baby milk, infant food or special foods for medical reasons may be brought in, but only if they do not require refrigeration before consumption and are in branded, sealed containers and not opened unless in use.

A highly contagious disease

Prohibited food products will be seized and destroyed if declared to Border Force officers at Customs. Random searches may also be carried out, which could lead to longer than usual queues at the borders. Border Force may not only seize products if it believes they have been brought in illegally or if the permitted limit of a restricted product has been exceeded, but it could also destroy any item, including clothing or bags, that it believes has been contaminated by the product, for example, with meat blood.

Foot and mouth disease is a viral disease that causes fever and blisters in the mouth in cloven-hoofed ruminants such as cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. It poses no risk to humans, but outbreaks often lead to trade restrictions like the current ones. In 2001, the disease led to the slaughter of millions of animals in the UK and the loss of billions of pounds, causing a serious crisis for British agriculture. 2,000 cases were detected, but each case required the farm to cull and burn all its livestock, and more than six million sheep, cows, and pigs were slaughtered.

The first outbreak in Germany in 36 years occurred in January, and 55 goats, sheep, and cows on a farm in Brandenburg had to be culled as a precaution. In mid-March, cases were detected in Hungary, with more than 3,500 cows culled in the Gyor-Moson-Sopron county in the north of the country. Following the outbreak in Hungary, cases were detected on five farms in southern Slovakia, prompting the country to declare a state of emergency. On April 2, Hungary deployed soldiers and imposed new disinfection measures in the northwest, near the border regions, to contain the outbreak. The following day, Austria closed 21 border crossings with Hungary and two with Slovakia.