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Border Force inadequately enforces personal import rules, lacking POAO understanding and focused teams.

Conclusion
Border Force is not adequately fulfilling its responsibility to enforce personal import rules relating to animal products; it has too many competing priorities and officers lack understanding of product of animal origin (POAO) rules and seizures. Border Force and port health authorities have shown that they can work well together in teams, but port health authorities are needlessly inhibited by a lack of powers and funding. Britain needs expert teams at the border with a single focus on animal products; these teams could target their operations based on POAO-specific intelligence and begin to address this crisis. (Conclusion, Paragraph 45)
Government Response

A response document is linked to this report, dated 11 November 2025. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document.

Addressee Bodies
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Timeline
Recommendation age 1.0 yr
Report published 08 Sep 2025