Brexit robbed me of my chance to try Nando’s sauce, says British expat

People cross the border between Spain and Gibraltar in La Linea de la Concepcion on January 4, 2021. — Gibraltarians have reacted with relief and caution after Madrid and London reached a deal allowing the territory to become part of Europe's passport-free zone to keep movement fluid on its border with Spain.

Credit: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

A British man was denied his chance to taste Nando’s signature sauce for the first time and it was all because of Brexit. 

Joseph Lathey lives in La Línea de la Concepción, Spain, close to the border with Gibraltar. He nipped over to The Rock to pick up some British goods, including the medium heat sauce popularised by the chicken restaurant chain. 

To his horror, Spanish border guards stripped him of the sauce because it contained processed vegetables. 

Mr Lathey, 27, said, “I’ve not actually had Nando’s peri-peri sauce before and I was really looking forward to trying it."

Gibraltar left the EU’s Single Market with the UK on December 31, which means stricter border controls on some food because they are no longer subject to the same EU food safety rules. 

An advisory note from the Gibraltar Government warns that all meat and milk will be unable to enter the EU from the peninsula, but makes no mention of processed vegetables.

Mr Lathey  was also told to bin his samosas, flatbreads and various spices, or take them back to Gibraltar.  Mr Lathey said he was only able to keep £6 worth of his £43 shop so sold the rest of his shopping for £20 on Facebook to a Gibraltar resident. 

He said: “They took my bag and they started going through it, and pulling everything out and reading the backs of labels.

"He just started pulling stuff out and said ‘no, no, no, no… but you can have these two things,’ and pulled out two bags of spice that I had and said ‘that’s the only things that you can keep’".

"The peri-peri Nando’s sauce was in there, too. It had onion puree on the ingredients and that’s one of the things they said to me: ‘look, it’s got processed vegetables on it, you can’t have it’".

The Gibraltar authorities said: "The government’s understanding is that EU law specifically exempts plant products intended for personal consumption from official controls on introduction to the EU.

"Therefore, the government will be seeking to clarify this matter with the relevant Spanish authorities."

Despite being convinced that the border guards were unsure of the rules themselves, Mr Lathey, who moved as a child from Torquay, Devon, to Sabinillas, Malaga, felt powerless to question their decisions. 

He predicted a surge in smuggling of British goodies to the EU after Brexit. 

He said: "The thing is that nice things that we want — your Cadbury’s chocolate and your digestive biscuits… all that kind of stuff — you can only get in Gibraltar.

"I can guarantee you that everyone is going to carry on bringing those things through, they’re just going to find imaginative ways of doing it."