Brexit food and beverage impacts: overview
- Trade with EU faces more checks, paperwork and regulatory complexity
- UK food exports to EU declined, with volumes significantly reduced
- Regulatory divergence creates separate UK and EU approval systems
- Labour shortages increased, especially across agriculture and hospitality
- Many EU food laws remain in place, with businesses still aligned
It’s been ten years since the UK voted to leave the European Union.
The decision has seen widespread impacts on politics, economics and trade, not just in the UK but in Europe as well.
But how did it affect the food sector? Here’s how the UK and EU have diverged over the years, and how this has impacted food and beverage.
1. Trade is more complex
Trade between the UK and EU has increased in complexity since the two are no longer united by EU standards.
The introduction of the UK’s Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) replaced the trade rules that were managed by the EU itself before the UK left it. Before the BTOM was introduced, much of the EU’s food flowed freely into Great Britain (the island composed of England, Scotland and Wales) without border checks.
The BTOM introduced standards on certain foods, including sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements.
Then there was Northern Ireland. ‘Not for EU’ labelling on food – the result of the Windsor Framework, which was in turn the direct result of Brexit, has been opposed by food businesses.
The Windsor Framework splits goods into a ‘green lane’ and a ‘red lane’. Foods that are imported from Great Britain only to Northern Ireland are in the green lane and will not face EU checks. They are labelled ‘not for EU’. Foods in the red lane, which are bound for the EU, face checks.
2. UK/EU trade declined
Trade between the EU and UK has declined significantly since the official date of Brexit on 31 January 2020.
Between 2019 and 2024, food exports to the EU fell by 34%, according to the UK’s Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
In 2024 alone, exports fell by 17%, with imports from the EU increasing by 3.3%.
On average, UK food export volumes were 20% lower between 2020 and 2024 than between 2015 and 2019. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands saw lesser decreases in the same period.
3. Novel food regulation separated
The UK’s novel food regulation, which is under the auspices of its Food Standards Agency (FSA), is largely the inherited framework from the EU’s own.
However, despite their similarities, they represent two separate frameworks, and those applying for novel food approval can apply to either or both.
This means that companies on occasion choose to submit an application to one and not the other. French cultivated meat company Vital Meat (before becoming part of Parima), submitted an application in the UK rather than EU.
4. Divergence on food tech
The UK and EU have diverged in several areas on food tech. For example, the UK is investing significantly into research on novel foods such as cultivated meat, for which it has a regulatory sandbox. A regulatory sandbox allows companies temporary respite from regulation in a controlled environment in order to conduct research under supervision of a regulator. The aim of this is to help regulators learn more about a product and therefore streamline regulation.
In the EU, however, regulatory sandboxes for novel foods have been explicitly prohibited in the first part of the bloc’s Biotech Act due to cultural and ethical concerns.
Until recently, there was also a stark divergence in gene-editing rules. In the EU, crops developed through precision breeding tools, such as gene editing, were regulated under its stringent framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). As of 2022, the UK loosened its rules meaning some crops were not under GMO regulation.
The EU has recently done the same, sparing crops under a certain threshold of modifications from the GMO regulation’s scrutiny. Nevertheless, this divergence lasted for years and made gene-editing in the EU more regulatorily burdensome.
5. ‘Meaty’ names ban doesn’t apply in UK
Lawmakers in the EU have recently agreed to ban ‘meaty’ names for plant-based meat and meat substitutes. The ban singles out 31 terms which, if used, must refer to a meat product. Such terms include ‘steak’ and ‘chicken’ although some, such as ‘burger’, were excluded.
This has been predicted to cause short-term disruption to the plant-based meat sector and potentially lead to the growth of non-mimic meat replacers such as tofu.
The UK currently does not have such a ban. Plant-based companies therefore have far more flexibility in terms of what they name their products.
However, similar regulation has been rumoured to be on the horizon due to EU and UK alignment on food standards.
6. Animal welfare laws diverge
Since Brexit, there has been substantial deviation in the animal welfare laws of the UK and EU.
In 2024, the UK banned the export of live animals, which the UK government said was “capitalising on post-Brexit freedoms”, as such a change in the law was only possible after the UK left the EU.
Earlier this year, the UK also pledged to ban the boiling of live crustaceans.
The UK had also pledged to ban the import of foie gras, the production of which is considered cruel by many. However, because of negotiations with the EU to align on food standards, this may not happen. The Guardian recently reported that the pledge had been dropped.
7. Labour shortages
Since Brexit, the UK has seen widespread labour shortages in the food and beverage sector, with many linking this to the impact of Brexit.
Alongside COVID-19 and the end of the UK’s Seasonal Agriculture Workers scheme in 2013, Brexit significantly contributed to a shortage of workers in agriculture, according to the UK’s National Farmers Union (NFU).
Shortages have also been seen in hospitality. Hospitality in the UK had long relied on EU workers in kitchens, late-night venues and management roles, according to the Morning Advertiser.
Following Brexit, however, the UK’s points-based immigration system meant that access to labour was more difficult to find in hospitality. UKHospitality chair Kate Nicholls describes the years following Brexit as a “string of crises”.
8. Lack of alignment on food standards
On many key food standards, the EU and UK are not aligned.
Such divergences have grown over the years. For example, the EU recently decided not to renew authorisation for eight smoke flavourings, meaning as of 2029 they may not be able to be placed on the market.
Divergences between the UK and EU have been the topic of heated discussion in recent years.
Following their trade deal last year, the two blocs began to discuss aligning on food safety, meaning that changes to food in the UK could be made. For example, last year it was speculated that the oatcake could be banned in the UK due to more stringent EU mycotoxin limits.
Such divergences remained topics of contention, although some, such as foie gras and gene editing, have been partially resolved (see above).
9. Food price rises in the UK
Since the UK left the EU, significant food price rises have been seen, which many have linked to Brexit.
According to Erik Millstone, Professor Emeritus of Science Policy at the University of Sussex, reduced access to the EU market has resulted in diminished food quantities sold at higher prices.
Researchers from the London School of Economics have estimated that post-Brexit, the prices of products more reliant on EU imports rose by 12% more than others.
While rising food prices have of course been global, impacted by factors such as climate change and the war in Ukraine, this research indicates Brexit may have worsened such rises in the UK.
10. Much remains the same
Of course, Brexit did not transform all UK laws overnight. Even ten years later, the UK has retained many EU regulations.
As of 2026, just under 50% of retained EU law for the UK’s Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) remains unchanged, according to the government’s Retained EU Law dashboard.
Even when EU law does not apply in the UK, some are still choosing to align with it. According to think tank, UK in a Changing Europe, many UK businesses have chosen to align with EU standards on areas such as food because even when unnecessary it provides access to the EU market.
While Brexit has had a significant impact on food and beverage in several key areas, much remains the same.
