英のＥＵ離脱でビーガン製品に切り替え　米製菓材料メーカー

【シャーバーンインエルメット（英国）ＡＦＰ＝時事】米テキサス州の製菓材料メーカー「ピーカン・デラックス・キャンディー」は、２０２０年の英国の欧州連合（ＥＵ）離脱（ブレグジット）後、英工場で手掛ける製品を卵・バター無使用のビーガン製品に切り替えた。
（写真は、英イングランド北部シャーバーンインエルメットにある同社の工場）
　ブレグジットの結果、英国からＥＵへの動物性食品の輸出には、獣医師による証明の取得や他の必要書類の作成など時間も費用もかかる手続きが必要となった。ピーカンの場合、これまでに１０万ポンド（約１６００万円）以上の追加コスト負担を余儀なくされた。
　同社はイングランド北部リーズ近郊の村、シャーバーンインエルメットの工場で、ケーキのトッピングやクッキー生地といった製菓材料を製造している。
　ブレグジット後、英国事業の売上高全体に占めるＥＵ向け輸出の割合は８４％から５５％に落ち込んだ。同社はこれを受けて製品を見直し、シャーバーンインエルメット工場での乳製品使用を昨年１０月に停止した。
　同社欧州法人のグラハム・キングストン社長は「新たな商品ラインアップによってコストを大幅に削減できた。獣医師を呼んで署名してもらう必要もなくなり、欧州への輸出もスムーズになった」と説明。「植物由来の製品は価格も抑えられ、ビーガン食をはじめ現在のトレンドにも合致する」と満足げだ。
　苦境に立たされている英国の輸出企業に対する英政府の支援はどうあるべきか尋ねると、キングストン氏は「ＥＵに復帰すればわれわれを助ける最初の一歩になる」とし、ブレグジットの撤回を訴えた。
　また、「われわれが今手にしているのはすべてブレグジット後につかんだ情報だ。何から何まで自分たちだけでやらなければならなかった」と語り、資金面だけでなく、情報の提供も大きな助けになるとの考えを示した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/02/16-22:57）

Following Brexit, confectioner Pecan Deluxe Candy soon discovered that British operations were plagued by costly new red tape on exports of animal-derived products. Its solution? Go vegan.
The US-owned firm -- which provides food brands with sweet confection like cake toppings and cookie dough -- scrapped butter and eggs in favour of plant-based alternatives that require no checks at the EU border.
Bosses decided in October to ditch dairy at their facility in the northern English village of Sherburn-in-Elmet near Leeds to boost flagging exports to their main market in Europe.
We decided to take action because ... we weren't just going to lie down and take it, Graham Kingston, managing director of the Pecan Delux Candy Europe, told AFP.
The UK left the European Union's single market and customs union two years ago, forcing exporters of animal-based foodstuffs to submit veterinary certification and other costly paperwork.
The extra red tape has heaped costs and time on companies, further straining supply chains.
However, vegan products are not subject to the same restrictions. That makes for cheaper and more efficient transportation.
One of the biggest issues that there has been is the implementation of border control checks, said Kingston.
Those checks have been stopping a lot of deliveries going through depending on interpretation of the rules, which has caused a number of issues with products being returned to us all having to be destroyed.
- New recipes -
Extra red tape had cost the group more than £100,000 ($123,450) over the past couple of years.
The new range... has significantly reduced those costs, he added.
We don't have to get a vet come and sign those off anymore and that allows us to have a very slick supply chain into our customers in Europe.
Family-owned Pecan Delux Candy, which is based in Dallas, Texas and also has a factory in Thailand, employs 600 staff worldwide making key ingredients for desserts like brownies, cakes, pastries and more.
The company reformulated recipes after European exports tanked to 55 percent of its total UK sales.
That compared with a huge 84 percent before Brexit.
The new products are also cheaper to produce and taps into current dietary trends.
A plant-based range which has had some other benefits to offer, which are reduced pricing, and also hitting a number of trends that are in play at the moment, not least veganism, Kingston told AFP.
Pecan Deluxe Candy Europe has made the French port of Calais its single point of EU entry.
- Reversing Brexit? -
Asked about how the Brexit-backing UK government could help struggling exporters, Kingston suggested a reversal of Brexit -- and direct assistance.
I think moving back into the EU would be a start, in terms of helping us, Kingston told AFP.
I think just giving us exporters some assistance financially where possible, but also the availability of information would very much help.
Because everything we have here has been learned post-Brexit. So we've had to be very self sufficient in the whole process.