How to Send Ham to the UK Legally

Sending ham to the UK is possible, as long as it's done properly. Generally speaking, most countries don't allow meat products to enter via standard post or parcel services, because these processes offer no health or safety guarantees. However, there are methods that comply with British law and allow us to send ham to England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

At Your Spanish Shop we guarantee proper shipping on every order that includes Iberian ham online to the United Kingdom.

Why you can't send ham to England by standard post

The UK's health and safety framework remains similar to the European one, despite Brexit. EU law states that any meat product can be seized if it doesn't meet the rules on preservation and transport, and UK law sets out this same condition.

One of the basic rules regarding the transport of meat is that it must be carried at a specific temperature, without breaking the cold chain. As a result, meat detected in the standard post is usually seized in most cases, to prevent products that could potentially be in poor condition from entering the country.

Ham is a very particular case, because it doesn't require any special temperature conditions to keep well. Extreme conditions can, of course, affect how it keeps, but if the product is properly packaged it won't suffer any deterioration.

Sending a ham to the UK from an online shop

Sending ham privately without the right packaging carries a high risk, as the product may be intercepted and seized. Sending a ham to England and other parts of the United Kingdom safely is possible if the shipment is made from an online shop under the right conditions.

To send a ham to the UK, it's essential to follow a process similar to the one used when exporting Spanish cold meats and cheeses. At Your Spanish Shop we take care of preparing the ham so that the shipping process complies with current British law. In this respect, it's very important that the ham is properly packaged, whether it's a whole piece or sliced ham.

The advantage of sending ham to the UK is that the product will reach its destination with all its qualities perfectly intact.

Assortment Of Sliced Iberian Guijuelo Canpipork 200 Gr.€16.24Serrano ham of Winery loncheado Torre de Nuñez 120 gr.€3.99Iberian palette of bait loncheada Sierra Azuaga 100 gr.€9.41Boneless Serrano ham Castillo 2 - 3 kg.€49.99

How long does it take for a ham to reach the UK

There are several types of shipping for food products to the UK. If you opt for standard delivery, the arrival time is between 4 and 7 days (depending on whether the destination is a coastal area in the south of England, or whether the ham has to reach the Scottish Highlands).

There's also the option of sending the product via an express courier service; in this case the ham is sent by air mail and takes between 24 and 48 hours to arrive.

At Your Spanish Shop we not only take care of shipping your ham to the UK, we also offer a fast delivery service so you can receive your ham right away, anywhere in Britain.

Vacuum packing to send ham to England

A whole piece of ham won't need any special packaging, because the part we eat is naturally preserved. Sliced ham, however, does need special conditions so that its flavour and qualities are properly preserved.

The best packaging process for sliced ham is vacuum packing. In this case, what we do is remove the oxygen from inside the pack to prevent the food from oxidising. The vacuum-packing machine itself creates a vacuum space inside the packaging.

In the case of ham, vacuum packing is a particularly suitable process. Once vacuum-packed, slices of ham take up very little space, so we can send several trays without the weight or volume of the parcel leading to excessive extra costs.

Shipping products to the UK after Brexit

Unlike other countries, both within and outside the EU, the shipping of food products to the UK isn't based on a fully defined legal framework.

Since 1 January 2021, the day the United Kingdom left the European Union, many legal issues have arisen in relation to exporting products to the country. Even today, the European and British authorities are still negotiating certain aspects that affect the purchase and shipping of products across the UK border, so it's essential to be aware of the legislation currently in force in order to ensure the shipment arrives.

At Your Spanish Shop we guarantee you the best service in every aspect related to shipping ham to the UK; we take into account everything needed for our products to reach anywhere in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in the best possible condition.