UK meat industry on alert over labor shortage

The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) has written to Defra Minister Daniel Zeichner to raise urgent concerns about the harmful impact of recent changes to the UK immigration visa system on the meat processing and manufacturing sector.

The new restrictions on visa eligibility —including higher skill thresholds, the removal of most skilled butchery and slaughterhouse positions from the Shortage Occupation List, and a drastic increase in salary and language requirements—have made it difficult for companies to hire essential staff.

The consequences are already being felt across the industry: acute labor shortages, reduced plant production, increasing risks to animal welfare, loss of export opportunities, and higher costs that directly feed into food price inflation.