The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has announced that incoming border checks on fruit and veg imported from the European Union will be scrapped.

The recent UK-EU trade deal included a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement that will eliminate routine SPS border checks for food exports and imports between the UK and EU.

The agreement has not yet come into effect, however in an early move, the government have decided not to require checks on medium-risk fruit and vegetables that would otherwise have come into force this summer. Medium-risk fruit and vegetables include tomatoes, grapes, plums, cherries, peaches, and peppers.

This means that businesses will be able to carry on importing these items from the EU without being subject to fees or border checks.

The easement of checks, which would previously have ended on 1 July 2025, will now be extended to 31 January 2027. This extension should give time for the details of the new SPS deal to be negotiated and the deal enacted.

See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fruit-and-veg-import-checks-scrapped-ahead-of-uk-eu-deal