Importing dairy products
Tuesday 30 October 2007
There are strict rules about importing dairy products from outside the European Union (EU).
Each batch (or 'consignment') of dairy products that you import may have to:
- have a veterinary and/or public health certificate
- come from an EU approved premises
- enter the EU through a Border Inspection Post where veterinary checks must be carried out
- come from a country authorised by the European Commission (EC) to export this type of product to the EU
Remember that general UK regulations may also apply.
Dairy products include milk, butter, cheese (including vegetarian cheese), yoghurt, cream, milk powder, whey, lactose, lactoproteins (including caseins and caseinates), anhydrous milk fat or kephir. Rules about products containing these will depend on the percentage of the product they make up.
Lists of establishments approved to export milk and milk-based products to the EU can be found below.
Composite products
A composite product is a foodstuff that contains both processed animal products and products of plant origin and where the processing of the primary product is essential to the production of the final foodstuff.
Information on importing composite products containing a milk product can be found at the link below.
The milk must only come from an approved country as listed in Annex I of Commission Decision 2004/438/EC, as amended by Commission Decision 2006/295/EC.
Import conditions for milk and milk-based products
Animal Health, an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for imports of dairy products and specific details of the conditions for import of milk and milk-based products can be found on the Defra website at the link below. Alternatively, email ahitchelmsford@animalhealth.gsi.gov.uk, or telephone 01245 358383 for more information.
