UK's Busiest Border Chief Goes Public: EU Food Checks Are Catching Systematic Fraud

March 30, 2026 - PRLog -- Tony Baldock, Corporate Director of Health and Wellbeing at Ashford Port Health Authority, is speaking on the record about what his team has found since post-Brexit checks on EU imports began. His message is unambiguous: the misdeclaration is not occasional and not accidental.

"There are a lot of products that are misdeclared as low risk and hidden in a trailer, when they are actually medium risk. They're very common problems, and there are a lot of them," Baldock states.

Ashford Port Health, which operates Sevington Inland Border Facility — the UK's busiest commercial freight entry point — has spent years developing an AI-powered intelligence system now at full capability, designed to identify the kind of patterns that deliberate fraudsters rely on going undetected.

Three weeks ago, DEFRA announced it intends to remove all EU border checks by June 2027 as part of the new SPS agreement.

Baldock's response was direct: "I think it is an absolute disaster and travesty what they're doing." His assessment of what Ashford Port Health would be able to do once the new arrangements take effect? "Nothing. We'd be completely powerless."

A Disease List That Should Alarm Every Farmer in Britain

Not one of the following diseases is currently present in the UK. All are present in Europe:

• African Swine Fever (actively spreading)
• Classical Swine Fever
• Foot and Mouth Disease
• Lumpy Skin Disease
• Blue Tongue
• Goat Pox

Baldock believes the English Channel is the UK's most effective biosecurity tool, one that cannot be replicated by any land border arrangement:

"Metaphorically, the Channel saved our bacon in the Second World War. It's kind of literally saved our bacon in real terms now we've left Europe, with ASF."

The Quote That Has Been Circulating in Farming and Trade Circles

"The absence of evidence was never evidence of absence. It was just the absence of looking. And now that someone has been looking and finding things, the response is to stop looking again."

find out more > https://www.eori.uk/news-insights/a-conversation-with-ash...

Interviews Available

Tony Baldock, Corporate Director of Health and Wellbeing, Ashford Port Health Authority — responsible for the UK's busiest border control post, available to speak on record.

Rob Hardy, CEO, EORI (UK) Limited — available to discuss trade compliance, customs technology, and the broader policy implications.