British meat producers have begun sending carcasses to the EU for butchering and then shipping the meat back to the UK, after post-Brexit staff shortages led to the culling of more than 10,000 healthy pigs.
Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, said beef producers were shipping carcasses to Ireland for processing, before bringing the meat back to the UK, as a result of local shortages of butchers.
Pork producers were soon expected to start sending pigs to the Netherlands to be butchered in a similar process, he said, as they grappled to deal with staffing levels at least 15 per cent below the norm. Millions of pigs were expected to be processed this way, Allen said.