In this week's Brexit downsides, extra food labelling costing up to £250mn, a huge drop in overseas students, veterinary shortages in NI, and more.

If an agreement is not found, Northern Ireland faces potentially losing access to an estimated 51% of veterinary medicines, including vaccines for zoonotic diseases such as salmonella and leptospirosis, as well as insulin for dogs and cats and flu and tetanus vaccines for horses.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has issued a statement in response to the news that the implementation of the UK Government’s Border Target Operating Model, which will have a significant impact on UK biosecurity, may been further delayed.

Northern Ireland could lose half of its veterinary medicines in a new Brexit row threatening to prolong the political stalemate in the region, it has emerged.

Grace period will stop at end of 2022 with talks on a solution stalled. / Boris Johnson's Brexit deal is set to create a shortage of veterinary medicines for sick animals in Northern Ireland, a parliamentary committee has warned.

Export health certification cost over £26m from January to June this year, claims the food industry's sanitary & phytosanitary (SPS) certification working group, which wants food business operators to support e-certification trials.

The delay in extra checks on EU imports has been criticised by businesses for creating confusion and leaving UK borders vulnerable to unsafe produce.

‘This flies in the face of common sense and the government’s commitment to high levels of animal and human health,’ say experts.

Commenting on reports that the Prime Minister has indicated that post-Brexit checks on food imports from the EU to Great Britain are to be delayed for a fourth time, the British Veterinary Association has reiterated a stark warning over disease threats.

UK agriculture is highly exposed to serious diseases imported from Europe, including African swine fever (ASF), because of a failure to get new border control posts (BCPs) operational before July 2022, a senior vet has warned.

The Covid pandemic has exacerbated the problems caused by Britain leaving the EU, the report found.

‘Deeply misguided’ to ‘weaken this layer of protection for both animal and public health’, government told.

Sharp fall in qualified professionals needed to sign off health certificates for products going to EU.

Workers describe ‘unprecedented’ situation as calls to confidential staff helpline hit record numbers.

Stephen Delahunty explores how Britain’s departure from the EU is increasing the demand for vets, while their numbers fall

David Hencke reports on the national vets shortage, caused by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the Coronavirus crisis and a rise in the number of people buying pets.

BVA members are reporting being overwhelmed by a combination of staff shortages and a surge in new pet registrations.

The UK food industry is warning that a deluge of new post-Brexit red tape which comes into effect today will increase export paperwork by a third and make some sales to Europe unviable.