A practical guide to importing in the fine food sector

While fine food industry players are understandably proud to champion products, ingredients and brands from their local area, there may come a time when you want to give your customers a taste of the flavours of brilliant makers from abroad – whether it’s the juicy sweetness of Italian tomatoes and creamy French cheeses or an exciting ingredient that grows halfway around the world.

Indeed, the latest report from the Food and Drink Federation found that imports reached a historic high of £66.9bn, but questions around the US tariff regime and changing rules with Europe are sowing uncertainty.

In this guide, Speciality Food explores everything you need to know about importing. Interested in exporting? Read our guide here.

Importing fine food and drink in 2026: what you need to know

If your shop is just beginning to dip a toe in the world of international trade, it may feel overwhelming. There is no doubt that importing today is trickier than it was a decade ago. Even changes over the last few years have caused shop owners to reassess their product ranges. Morven Kerr, co-owner of Idle Hands Shop & Bakery in Scotland recently told Speciality Food that importing small value goods has become more difficult, with margins decimated.

“We love Café-Tasse from Belgium, but the numbers don’t add up for us to buy their products anymore, so we’ve had to let that brand go,” Morven says. “It’s a shame, because we love what they do.”

Indeed, since the Brexit deal, exporting and importing have become more costly and admin-heavy. “Importing from the EU now comes with the same friction [as exporting] – paperwork, delays, and uncertainty – which is particularly damaging for food businesses relying on fresh ingredients and tight timelines, and we know many EU firms removed the UK from their delivery options altogether,” Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), tells Speciality Food.

Good news ahead

For businesses importing fresh foods like cheeses and charcuterie or produce like fresh salad leaves or flowers, it may seem like the cons currently outweigh the pros.

But there is good news. The government is currently in negotiations with the EU over what’s known as a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. This would remove sanitary checks and controls from food and plant products moving from the European Union into Great Britain and vice versa, following rules that came into force from the Brexit deal. “There will be benefits of that deal when it is achieved,” William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) tells Speciality Food. The deal is expected to be secured by the summer of this year, with implementation due in the summer of 2027.

Under the new system, products like cut flowers, meat, fish and dairy “wouldn’t need a £200-a-time certificate, wouldn’t need to go through particular ports for a border control post test and won’t suffer the same delays that have bedevilled the system of food imports since 2021,” William says.

“So by the summer of next year,” he continues, “we’re confident that it will be a lot easier for small wholesalers and small retailers to import these food products in an easier way than they’ve been able to do for the last five years.”

This means import costs, which have been very high since 2021, will lower, easing pressure on small retailers and wholesalers who source products from the EU. “Many economic forecasters are saying that there’s the potential to rebuild markets in agri food products, which could increase trades between the UK and the EU in these products by as much as a fifth,” William says.

The FSB’s Tina adds that it’s critical that the government ensures the new SPS agreement is “implemented in a way that works smoothly for small firms”.

And, she says, there is still more to do, with high costs remaining elsewhere. “The government needs to bring down the cost of trading with Europe, from shipping to intermediary fees, which are pricing small firms out of key markets,” Tina says. “We also need a simpler system at the border, with one set of data, one process, and far less duplication.”

What you can do ahead of the SPS deal

For retailers and wholesalers looking ahead, William suggests getting suppliers, freight forwarders, customers and any other relevant parties involved in a good discussion around what the SPS deal means for you. “There’s going to be an adjustment period for some products,” he says. “You’ve got to understand what products you have, how it’s going to affect your customers. Will there need to be some preparation and work that you do to be ready for this new agreement?”

“But on a more positive side,” William continues, “it’s about looking at how you can expand your customer base, your supplier base, in the EU.” Now could be a good time to negotiate lower prices or increase volume, for instance.

“There’s commercial opportunities in terms of increased trade in food products between the UK and EU as a result of this deal,” William says, “and companies should think about what the opportunities are in order to take advantage of that.”

Tips for sourcing globally

For brands that are sourcing ingredients from outside the UK, this is another area where problems around labelling and compliance can quietly start, says Krystle Law, co-founder and CEO at Taama, an AI-powered platform that helps brands manage compliance and expand internationally.

“Suppliers will often say something is ‘compliant’, but that usually just means compliant somewhere. It’s still the responsibility of the brand.”

For example, she says, “A botanical extract might be widely used in one country but classed as a novel food in the UK. A supplement ingredient might exceed maximum permitted levels locally. A flavouring or additive might require different naming or declaration on UK labels.”

Pay particular attention to a product’s claims, which are where sourcing and compliance often collide, Krystle says. 

“If your product positioning relies on functional or health benefits, those claims need to be backed and carefully phrased. This is one of the fastest ways for products to be challenged or pulled. Documentation is just as important. Supplier specs, certificates, formulation details, and claim support need to be clean and centralised.”

More changes on the horizon

Rules and regulations on trade are ever changing in our modern world. While there is good news for trade with the EU in the near future, further down the line there is a potential for more costs for small businesses.

The UK government is planning to end a tariff exemption for low-value imports in 2029. This would end the tax break on imports of goods worth less than £135, making them subject to customs duty – a similar move to one made by the US last summer.

The EU has plans to do the same, as well as introducing new handling charges for cheaper packages.

While some big British retailers back the move, saying it will prevent rivals from undercutting them (think Chinese clothing brands Shein and Temu), the BCC has warned that new proposals, particularly ones introducing charges per item or consignment, would disproportionately affect small and medium-sized businesses.

If import costs on small shipments increased from 5% to 10%, more than half of UK goods importers would pass this cost on to consumers, according to a survey by the BCC.

“Government’s been consulting on whether charges should be introduced, and we say no to that, and there has to be an acknowledgement about the impact that this would have on small businesses, because most of the burden on this will fall upon SME importers,” William says.

“We understand that the UK government wants to, in a sense, fall in with the emerging global consensus, and certainly have goods dealt with on a level playing field, but we are concerned about the impact it has on low value items.”