New EU arsenic rules catch Northern Ireland between Brussels and London

New EU rules slashing the amount of arsenic permitted in baby food have highlighted how Northern Ireland is caught between different rules set by Brussels and London, despite this month’s new post-Brexit trading agreement.

Days after UK and EU leaders sealed their deal last week, Brussels cut the level of the carcinogenic substance allowed in infant formula and baby food by 80 per cent and set limits for its use in rice, fruit juice and salt.

But consumers in Northern Ireland can still buy baby food with higher levels of arsenic if the ingredients or the finished product are imported from Great Britain.

Food manufacturers in Northern Ireland, which remained in the EU’s single market after Brexit, will have to follow the new rules if they want to export to Ireland or elsewhere in the EU, a European Commission official said.

“This is great news for babies, it’s just not good news for British babies or Northern Irish babies,” said Andy Meharg, a professor of plant and soil science at Queen’s University Belfast.

“The UK should follow that [the EU’s] progressive move. If they don’t . . . it sends the worst signal for the most precious cohort of citizens,” he said.

According to the European Commission, inorganic arsenic can cause cancer of the lung, urinary tract and skin.

Michael Bell, executive director of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association, a trade body, said his members were likely to adopt the EU’s higher standards, which will take effect this month.  “We are trying to maintain the ability to trade both to Europe and GB which was possible before Brexit,” he said.

While the baby food sector in Northern Ireland is relatively small, he added that the broader food and drink business is the largest industry in the region, employing 113,000 people.

Maintaining alignment with EU food legislation to ensure it can continue to export means the question of different food standards will “go on and on”, he added, since the EU comes up with scores of new rules annually.

The dilemma faced by such producers highlights the novel status of Northern Ireland, which remains subject to some EU rules for goods, despite last week’s deal.

The Windsor framework, signed after two years of trade tensions, allows goods coming to Northern Ireland from Great Britain to comply with UK standards, while products made in the region or being exported for sale in the bloc follow EU rules.

The British government emphasised that the new rule “would not apply for internal UK trade under the [Windsor] framework.” It added that Britain would “always maintain strong rules on arsenic levels and keep our position under very close review”, while working closely with regulators in the EU and elsewhere.

The pro-UK Democratic Unionist party, has identified “key issues of concern” with the Windsor framework, notably that “EU law remains applicable in Northern Ireland”.

The party did not respond to a request for comment on the new rules affecting arsenic levels in baby food.