Notifying authorities of high-risk food and feed imports
England and Wales specific
Importers must pre-notify authorities before high-risk food and feed arrives in Great Britain.
It is essential to pre-notify authorities in Great Britain (GB) before high-risk food and feed, including products of animal origin, arrive from EU and non-EU countries. The only exception is imports from the Republic of Ireland.
Importers and import agents must use the online import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) to do this.
Pre-notification is essential as it:
- helps streamline the sampling process, as part of risk-based checks of certain commodities at the border
- improves the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and inland local authorities’ ability to trace commodities, should they be linked with a food safety incident
- provides important information on compliance with GB food safety requirements
The Border Operating Model describes all the controls the FSA applies at the border, including pre-notification.