BRITAIN'S last minute Brexit trade deal helped it avoid tariffs and quotas on agri-food goods – but since then the issue of food standards has emerged as a major source of friction at the EU/UK borders.

NFU Scotland has called on both the UK Government and the EU Commission to build on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement by recognising that there is still 'equivalence' in those standards, and therefore no need for the current hold ups.

The union said that it must be a priority to 'digitise and simplify' the sanitary and phytosanitary border controls that currently require specialist paperwork and frequent physical inspections on products of animal or plant origin, as the cost and time currently levied by these compliance requirements presented 'a severe hindrance' to trade.

President Martin Kennedy said: “Throughout the whole Brexit process, we’ve consistently pressed for an agreement that is as close to friction-free as possible. The TCA may be tariff and quota free, but it’s far from friction free.

“That said, the end of transition did not mark the end of existing standards on either side of the Channel nor any erosion of them," said Mr Kennedy. "It is abundantly clear that it is not in the interest of businesses in the UK nor the EU to allow current trade friction to continue and steps must be taken to build on the TCA to simplify and minimise the requirements needed through the likes of export health certificates and customs declarations.

“SPS border controls should be proportionate to the risks identified and able to recognise that while the UK and the EU now have separate regulatory regimes, the objectives and the way in which they operate to regulate plant and animal health are the same," he said.

“Agri-food products in the EU and the UK rightly meet high standards which are in the interest of consumer protection, animal health and welfare and the environment. If both sides would recognise this, we could simplify processes and reduce the cost and time levied by the checks and controls that have been put in place at the borders.”