Imports, exports and EU trade of animals and animal products: topical issues

This page provides details on particular issues or changes that importers and exporters may need to be aware of.

You can view all of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) guidance and forms for:

Defra’s animal disease monitoring collection covers major, notifiable or new and emerging animal disease outbreaks internationally and in the UK.

Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has suspended the import of honeybees, apiculture products, and used beekeeping equipment from the Republic of Türkiye due to an outbreak of Tropilaelaps mite reported on 31 August 2026. 

The following safeguard measures give effect to this decision. These are published on behalf of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (England), the Cabinet Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability (Wales) and the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs (Scotland). 

These special measures apply from 4 September 2026 and will continue to apply until they are revoked or amended.

Great Britain has suspended the import of bovine embryos from Israel following confirmation of a lumpy skin disease (LSD) outbreak on 20 August 2026. This is in addition to the suspension already in place for this commodity due to foot and mouth disease (FMD).

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) import restrictions: Argentina  

Following an assessment, Great Britain has lifted the import restrictions that were implemented in February 2026 due to an outbreak of HPAI in Argentina. This means that:

• imports of poultry, ratite and wild game bird meat may resume
• the treatment category for meat products of poultry and farmed feathered game (including ratites) has been amended from ‘D’ to ‘A’, meaning no specific heat treatment is required

Read the restrictions in the ‘Poultry and poultry products’ and ‘Meat products’ lists of non-EU countries approved to export animals and animal products to Great Britain.