The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been holding talks with distributors regarding tertiary packaging and goods can continue to be imported and exported if we do leave the EU without a deal in place.

According to the Guardian, if the UK does leave in a no-deal scenario, the majority of wooden pallets – which are used to transport a huge range of goods, from beer and chocolate to pet food and breakfast cereal, won’t meet strict EU rules that are in place to prevent the spread of pests like bark beetles.

Distributors have now been told that all timber packaging heading to the EU after a no-deal Brexit will have to be treated or fumigated so that they comply with International Standards for Phytosanitary (Regarding Plants) Measures 15 (ISPM 15).

At the moment, all pallets moving between member states are exempt from this standard and industry experts have now said that fewer than a third of the pallets used comply.

If pallets are prevented from moving between the UK and member states after we’ve left the EU, millions of tonnes of goods won’t be able to be transported, which could possibly result in food shortages. At the moment, over three million pallets transit between the EU and the UK each and every month.

Tertiary packaging is what is used to protect and ship products, especially important in the pharmaceutical industry because primary packaging (which contains the product, so the lid, glass bottle and blister pack), can often be incredibly fragile and as such requires appropriate protection during transit.

It’s vital that those in the healthcare industry choose the right kind of packaging – and if you need help in this regard, get in touch with us here at KFM Co-Packer today to see what we can do for you.