IMPORTANT –  Foot and mouth disease in Hungary – information for importers

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals. It causes very significant economic losses, due to production losses in the affected animals and due to the loss of access to foreign markets for animals, meat and milk for affected countries. FMD does not infect humans and does not pose a food safety risk.

Defra are in contact with Hungarian counterparts and are working closely with the Devolved Governments to prevent an incursion from imported goods. We will keep you updated as the investigation progresses.

What is the impact on the import of live animals and meat products from Hungary into Great Britain?

Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has suspended the import of the following commodities to Great Britain from Hungary, following an outbreak of FMD that was confirmed on 7 March 2025:

• live (including non-domestic) ungulates (ruminants and porcine animals, including wild game) and their germplasm

• fresh meat from ungulates

• meat products from ungulates that have not been subject to specific treatment D1, D, C or B (including wild game)

• milk, colostrum and their products, unless subjected to treatment as defined in Article 4 of Regulation 2010/605
• animal by-products, unless treated to effectively mitigate the risk of FMD

Definition of FMD-susceptible animals

FMD-susceptible animals under the Foot and Mouth Disease (England) Order  2006 means “a cow, bull, sheep, goat, deer, camel, llama, alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, any other ruminant, any swine (that is, a member of the suborder Suina of the order Artiodactyla), elephant or rodent (other than a pet rodent)”.

And under The Foot and Mouth Disease (Scotland) Order 2006 means “means cattle, a sheep, goat, deer, camel, llama, alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, any other ruminant, any swine (that is, a member of the suborder Suina of the order Artiodactyla) or an elephant”.

We will be publishing further information on GOV UK.

Businesses are asked to suspend imports of impacted products from Hungary whilst the Hungarian authorities investigate the outbreak.  If you have consignments containing impacted fresh meat, meat products or dairy products arriving into Great Britain from today, it is likely that they will be called to the Border Control Post at the point of entry by the Port Health Authority/Local Authority to undergo checks.  Contact the Port Health Authority at the point of entry today for information on next steps. Please note that some PHAs/LAs do not operate at weekends. Full contact details are available on GOV UK.

Where goods are currently being held at the GB border due to the FMD outbreak in Hungary, Port Health Authorities and Local Authorities can support businesses to return goods to Hungary, with agreement of the veterinary authorities in the EU, using standard processes. Please contact the PHA at the port of entry where your goods are being held for information.

Where these products have recently arrived in GB and the EHC was signed in good faith before the presence of FMD in Hungary was confirmed, we urge businesses not to put this product into the GB supply chain.

Investigations in Hungary relating to the emergence of disease and possible distribution are not complete. Much of it will be safe but the GB authorities will aim to trace and remove those products that originated close to the outbreak, in a timeframe where FMD infection or contamination was possible.

We are setting up a call for traders on Monday and we will share the link and additional information in our next communication.

FMD – action to take to ease processing delays 

We understand that enhanced controls for Hungarian FMD-susceptible meat products, milk and milk products from Hungary may present a challenge for traders, and we appreciate your cooperation and support for keeping Great Britain FMD-free.

The following are actions that you and/or your agent can take to help mitigate some of the most common causes of processing delays that we’re currently seeing at the border. Please pass to your agent for information.

1. Multiple CHEDs under the same MRN.

Where a load or container consists of a mixed load or groupage, there is an increased risk that the SPS hold on the customs declaration will not be lifted if one or more of the consignments in the load requires an inspection.

Example: an agent or importer has correctly submitted 3 separate CHED import notifications in IPAFFS for 3 consignments in a vehicle’s load. All 3 are correctly recorded on the customs declaration in CDS.

Checking on IPAFFS, two of the consignments have been cleared as valid but one is still undergoing documentary checks and has not yet been cleared. An SPS hold is showing on the customs declaration in CDS.

Once all 3 CHEDS are cleared as valid by the Port Health Authority, the SPS hold is removed from the customs declaration and HMRC/Border Force can release the load if no further customs checks are required.

Action: Traders and their agents are asked to check the status of their consignments via IPAFFS and CDS and where necessary discuss options to minimise delays with the Port Health Authority/Local Authority (PHA/LA) at the point of entry. These may include devanning and separating the consignments. This is likely to require the resubmission of the customs declaration for the load.

2. Removal of consignments for inspections.

If your supplier off-loads a particular consignment before it reaches Great Britain, and you or your agent cancels the accompanying CHED import notification in IPAFFS, it is important that you or your agent also amends the pre-lodged customs declaration in CDS to remove the relevant commodity codes and CHED reference number for the consignment. This also applies if you ask the PHA to cancel the CHED on your behalf.
Action: You or your agent should amend the customs declaration to remove any cancelled CHEDs. If the customs declaration is not amended, the SPS hold will persist because CDS is not able to access the inspection decision for the cancelled CHED.

Consignments will not be released until the customs declaration is amended and the SPS hold lifted. In exceptional cases where the CDS entry cannot be amended, the National Clearance Hub can issue a manual release.  NCH will NOT release holds for any other reason.

3. Consignment remains under an SPS hold in CDS

Where a consignment is still under an SPS hold on CDS despite all SPS checks being complete and all CHEDs showing as valid on IPAFFS, this may be due to inconsistencies in data entry between the CHED import notification and the customs declaration.

Action: Traders and agents should check both submissions and amend as necessary. The most common errors include:

• the CHED reference number being incorrectly entered into CDS

• commodity codes not aligning

• non-English characters/text copied and pasted into CHED fields on IPAFFS.

• the final destination is not a recognised GB address / country code is not given as GB.

If you or your agent require further information on any of these actions, please contact the PHA at your consignments’ point of entry into GB.

Imports of animal products: for urgent questions about imports of animal products, including germinal products, contact the Port Health Authority or Local Authority at the Border Control Post (BCP) for the goods’ point of entry. Find the BCP and the PHA/LA contact information on GOV UK.

Imports of live animals: for urgent questions about imports of live animals, contact APHA.

Trader Engagement & Readiness Team
Biosecurity, Borders and Trade Programme
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs