It’s understood the actual amount caught is likely to be much higher, as the Border Force figures won’t include some seizures recorded by individual port health authorities around the UK.
The rise in seizures is not believed to be down to increased success at intercepting illegal imports.
“If we’re picking up tonnes of meat, you can imagine how much is coming through that we’re not picking up,” said Dr Hudson.
Additionally, the data shows a general trend towards fewer individual seizures, with more than 5,500 in 2015/16 and fewer than 2,000 in 2023/24, sparking fears of larger shipments and more organised criminal activity.
“That is concerning,” added Dr Hudson, “if there’s a smaller number of individuals being caught, that does imply organisation and we do know that there are organised gangs.”
Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are understood to have held at least two meetings with representatives from the farming sector in recent weeks to discuss this issue.
A new system of post-Brexit border checks at Dover came into effect in April of this year, but critics have said they leave open the possibility of more illegal meat entering the UK.
Instead of checks taking place at Dover itself, vehicles are ordered to drive 22 miles away to a border control post at Sevington.
Parliament’s Environment Select Committee had been set to look into whether the system was working before the general election was called earlier this year.
“We have the potential now that we’ve left the European Union to have proper border checks, to make sure that biosecurity is protected,” Dr Hudson said.
The government announced £3.5bn of funding for Dover in August, but no additional money for smaller ports has been confirmed.
One Labour MP with a port in their constituency told the there was general concern among colleagues that only shoring up Dover would lead to criminal activity moving elsewhere.
A government spokesperson said that there had never been an outbreak of African Swine Fever in the UK, and it was determined to ensure that remained the case.
“Strict import controls” were in place to manage risk, they said, including restrictions on personal pork imports introduced last month.
They added that the government worked closely with Port Health Authorities and Border Force “to ensure our robust border controls are enforced”.
