Fresh Produce Consortium warns draft UK–EU SPS deal would bring EU-style checks on non-EU produce imports
The trade body estimates that controls on up to 120,000 Rest of World fresh produce consignments a year would add more than £300m in cost, roughly £2,500 a consignment. It says that cost would fall on importers, hauliers and wholesalers, and finally on shoppers.
The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) has warned that the UK and EU's draft sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement would impose EU-style controls on fresh produce imported from outside the EU for UK consumers. FPC chief executive Nigel Jenney set out the warning in a statement published on Multimodal's website on 10 November 2026. The statement responds to Logistics UK's welcome for reports that the two sides have finalised a draft of the deal.
Jenney said that, under dynamic alignment, up to 120,000 Rest of World consignments a year destined solely for British consumers would face EU-style controls they do not face today. "But as drafted, this deal fixes one border by building another," he said. According to FPC, half of the fresh produce the UK imports comes from outside the EU, including citrus, mangoes, blueberries, sweet potatoes and peppers.
FPC estimates the controls would add more than £300m a year in cost, or roughly £2,500 for every affected consignment. It says the cost would fall on importers, hauliers and wholesalers and, in the end, on shoppers at the checkout.
Jenney pointed to Logistics UK's own figures. He cited its estimate that agri-food exporters to the EU would save £150 to £250 per consignment, and its point that groupage operators are charged on every consignment in a mixed load. FPC argues that the same arithmetic runs the other way for Rest of World imports.
The consortium says the UK's existing science-based, risk-led regime already achieves 99.5% compliance across Rest of World fresh produce consignments. It argues that adding cost and delay would bring no measurable biosecurity gain. FPC wants the Government to keep that regime for Rest of World produce imported for UK consumption, which it says would secure the benefits of the reset without sacrificing global supply. "FPC supports a closer relationship with Europe, and we share the ambition to remove unnecessary barriers to trade," Jenney said.
Logistics UK has called on the UK–EU summit on 20 November to find further opportunities to reduce unnecessary barriers to trade. FPC is using a template industry letter to the Prime Minister to press for a fresh produce exemption at the summit. It has invited everyone in the supply chain, logistics operators included, to join the campaign through its online action pack.
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