With Brexit, the British were forced to relocate the butchers in Europe

Processors will return the meat trays to UK supermarkets before the beef carcasses are shipped to Ireland and the pork to the Netherlands.

This should further raise the score for UK consumers. Since there are no staff to cut the meat, the processors have to send the carcasses of the animals to the EU so that they can be cut … before returning the trays to supermarkets across the country.

According to the British Meat Processors Association, beef producers send their animals to Ireland, while pork producers go through the Netherlands before going the other way. Despite the British government announcing temporary relaxations in visa rules for foreign workers, the situation is dire due to the lack of staff in the sector.

Costs and labels

The lack of space and staff on the farms is a decision that will prevent thousands of healthy pigs from being killed again. According to the National Pig Association, 10,000 animals have already been slaughtered for this reason.

The tour to Europe for cutting and packaging is not just a question of costs for meat producers (1,800 euros per truck to Ireland). In fact, the latter will lose its British pork label. Not to mention the health checks carried out when corpses enter Europe, which further reduces application dates …

“We do not see 10,000 to 12,000 workers. We will not go far with 800.” Told the Guardian Nick Allen, president of the British Meat Processors Association. He was referring to the government’s visa ban on workers who specialize in butchering. “It was made clear that it was only for six months that they would return when it took us 18 months or more to train these individuals.”