A composite product is a food for human consumption containing processed animal products combined with plant material. This would include things like a sandwich, or a duck spring roll.
If a product is a composite product, it is still a legal requirement that it complies with any import rules applicable to each of the processed animal products it contains.
The product will not be a referred to as a composite product if it contains any raw material of animal origin or if it is not intended for human consumption e.g. it is pet food.
There are two situations where a processed animal product combined with plant material would not be considered a composite product – if the plant material has only a technical role in the processing or is present only to add a special characteristic e.g. flavour.
For example, canned fish in vegetable oil or cheese flavoured with herbs would not be considered composite products for import purposes. A pizza with anchovies and cheese would.
There are very specific rules for the import of composite products into GB
Commission Decision 2007/275/EC and Regulation No. 28/2012 set out import conditions for importing composite products from approved countries.
Requirements include that the composite product must come from a country listed in the legislation as approved for the product of animal origin contained in the composite product and have an approved veterinary residue plan as required by Decision 2011/163/EU, as listed here.
The meat product, milk product, egg product and fishery product content of the composite product must also have come from an approved country and where appropriate from an approved establishment.
The composite product must be accompanied by the relevant official certificate in Regulation 2019/628 if they contain processed meat, milk, egg or fishery product.
Composite products containing any other animal product must be accompanied by the relevant certificate required for the particular animal content or in other cases by a commercial document.
Composite products where less than half their content is processed milk product are also subject to these requirements except where the conditions in Article 6 of Decision 2007/275/EC are met.
Composite products are subject to veterinary checks at Border Control Posts (BCPs) unless specifically exempted.