Dutch customs officials have been filmed confiscating sandwiches and other food from passengers on a ferry from Britain, blaming new post-Brexit trade rules.
Officers in high-visibility jackets and face masks are seen stopping car and lorry drivers at the Hook of Holland port, in the footage filmed last week by the Avrotros public broadcaster.
"Welcome to the Brexit, sir ... I'm sorry," says one official as he seizes the foil-wrapped sandwiches of one stunned driver, who is said by the broadcaster to be Polish.
The driver plaintively asks the Dutch customs officer if he can "take off the meat and you leave me the bread?"
But the Dutch official replies: "No, everything will be confiscated."
Another driver is seen having fish products seized.
Customs officers confiscated ham sandwiches from drivers arriving by ferry from the UK under post-#Brexit rules banning personal imports of meat and dairy products into the EU I Read more: https://t.co/KD9lTeUpoP pic.twitter.com/bURRBnQ8hi
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 12, 2021
The British government in December used ham and cheese sandwiches as an example of a food that could not cross to the continent after Britain formally abandoned European Union trade rules on 1 January.
The new post-Brexit regulations say that bringing foods that contain meat or dairy into the EU, even for personal use, is forbidden.
The rule is intended to prevent the entry of foods that could spread diseases.
The changes have also hit grocery retailer Marks and Spencer, which was not able to stock its popular sandwiches and meals in France after the UK's official exit from the EU on 1 January.
