Just down the hall where the Danish Krone’s pigs are slaughtered, deboned and prepared for export as bacon, six employees have a new job: completing customs and health certificates required by Britain’s split from its largest trading partner.
The scene at the slaughterhouse in Blans, Denmark, exposes the change wrought by Brexit: more time than ever is spent untangling the red tape for shipments to Britain. From April 30, Britain will impose controls on fresh food imports – a stark reversal from the era of frictionless trade when the country was part of the European Union.
Ministers have delayed the change several times, wary of fueling inflation amid a cost-of-living crisis and knowing that any recurrence of empty supermarket shelves – in recent times caused by everything from climate change to a shortage of truck drivers – would be politically toxic .
