Northern Ireland Faces Brexit Food Time Bomb on New Paperwork
- Health certificates could add 40,000-pound cost per truck
- Supermarkets may pull out if business unviable: Trade group
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Extra paperwork required by Brexit will raise U.K. supermarkets’ cost of operating in Northern Ireland so much that some may pull out, a trade group warned.
From Jan. 1, animal products transported from the rest of Britain will require export health certificates. The forms will cost an estimated 200 pounds ($260) per product, according to the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium. With a refrigerated truck typically carrying about 200 different lines, the requirement could add 40,000 pounds to the cost of every shipment across the Irish Sea.