# Pasta, pies and paperwork errors: the reality of Brexit food checks

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/pasta-pies-and-paperwork-errors-the-reality-of-brexit-food-checks/
- Published: 2026-11-15T09:04:18+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-15T09:21:51+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/nov/15/drivers-delays-brexit-food-checks
- Topics: Business, Culture, Europe, Food, Politics, UK, World

## Key points

- A date mistake held up three boxes of pasta.
- Brexit checks can delay perishable food shipments.
- A UK-EU food deal may begin in 2028.

## Summary

A minor date error on a health certificate left three boxes of cannelloni stranded for inspection at the Eurotunnel terminal in Calais, delaying a truck carrying food from England to Gibraltar. The incident illustrates how post-Brexit checks and paperwork can hold up perishable goods, even when the mistake is small, and comes as the UK and EU prepare a deal intended to make food trade easier.

The driver said he had already waited nine hours before restarting a 24-hour journey. Officials also described meat being removed and destroyed after pig carcasses fell from their hooks, creating a contamination risk. A Defra report found small and medium-sized businesses were worst affected by checks; the planned sanitary and phytosanitary deal may not take effect until January 2028, and customs declarations will remain. Getlink says trade in both directions has fallen by just over 20% since Brexit and that it invested €60m (£50m) in border infrastructure.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.