UK food industry bodies have told government that insufficient domestic testing capacity is forcing imported food consignments to be sent back to the EU for official controls, according to a report in The Guardian.

The complaint strikes at the operational core of post-Brexit border arrangements. Importers who expected official checks to be completed in the UK are instead routing product through EU laboratories, adding cost, transit time and shelf-life loss to inbound supply chains that serve UK hospitality operators, wholesalers and retailers.

The Guardian did not publish a full response from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs alongside the industry claims. Eurotables Report could not independently verify the number of consignments affected.

Why does testing capacity decide where checks happen?

Official controls on food and feed imports require laboratory analysis for certain product categories, not just documentary and physical inspection at the border. If no UK laboratory holds the required accreditation or throughput to run those analyses within regulatory deadlines, the control cannot be closed out domestically.

The industry's position, as reported by The Guardian, is that this gap is not marginal. Consignments are being returned to the EU specifically so that checks can be completed there, effectively reversing the intended direction of the control process for affected loads.

For European suppliers, that dynamic carries a direct commercial consequence. A load that must travel back to an EU control post before release is a load that arrives late, or not at all, into UK distribution. Exporters and UK importers absorb the freight, detention and potential spoilage costs.

Who bears the cost in the supply chain?

Hospitality operators buy through importers and specialist wholesalers, many of whom have already repriced EU-sourced goods to reflect post-Brexit border fees and inspection regimes. Additional round-trip logistics and laboratory charges would land on that same cost base.

The sector's warning also carries a longer-term signal. If UK laboratory capacity remains below the volume that the import control regime generates, the UK becomes a less efficient destination for EU food exporters at the margin. Suppliers with alternative markets may reallocate volume rather than absorb repeated returns.

No industry body named in the reporting has published, within the article itself, a quantified estimate of the trade affected or the added cost per consignment. Eurotables Report will update this story as figures emerge.

What happens next?

Expect industry associations to press Defra and the Food Standards Agency for a published audit of accredited UK laboratory capacity against the demand generated by current import control rules. A credible fix requires either expanded domestic accreditation or a negotiated arrangement that recognises EU laboratory results without physical return of consignments.

Until one of those steps is taken, importers face continued uncertainty on EU-sourced lines, and operators should treat availability and pricing on affected products as exposed to border friction rather than resolved by the existing regime.