How is the humble sausage at the mercy of Brexit trade talks?

The Ulster fry may yet survive – but only if it carries proper documentation, writes Sean O’Grady

An exported ‘Irish’ sausage containing British meat, and vice versa, could cause crises at customs posts worldwide: a sausage with no entry is no use to anyone (Getty/iStock)

Fans of an “Ulster fry” should be worried. The sausages that forms such an integral part of this cholesterol-rich start to the day in the province is mortally threatened by Brexit. Indeed a very wide range of products moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain are jeopardised by the mess that is Brexit. Bacon, butter, indeed all dairy produce, chicken, lasagnes, lamb, seed potatoes, even a ham and cheese sandwich are in a state of phytosanitary suspension in Northern Ireland. Under a no-deal Brexit, the sausage crisis could spread across the UK.  

For what is a sausage if not a powerful symbol of the power of international free trade? Or lack of it. At the moment, under the agreed EU-UK withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland is supposed to become a member of the EU customs union and EU single market, and, simultaneously, of the UK customs union and UK internal market. This is hard to make work, even under the specially designed terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol. 

The solution was supposed to be a new economic border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which now represents the boundary of the EU’s customs union and single market, just like the border between Poland and Ukraine, say. The EU has to be happy with the stuff coming into its zone – that it is safe to eat and responsibly farmed, for example. Fresh and chilled meats and meat products are thus subject to control. If the UK is not recognised in some way as a trusted third-country source of foodstuffs, then the meat is either banned or subject to requiring a certificate that it is OK for import into the EU. That’s because there will famously be no border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, so a sausage bought in Strabane (UK) can legitimately travel to Donegal (Ireland) with no risk to health or the integrity of the EU single market.