Italian Food Supplier and Sourcing Partner for the UK

Importing Italian food into the UK is tariff-free under the UK-EU trade agreement when the goods meet origin rules, but it is not paperwork-free. Cheese, cured meats and other products of animal origin need an export health certificate from Italy, an IPAFFS pre-notification before arrival, and entry through a port with a border control post.

ALL FOOD is an Italian export office in Tuscany. We source from Italian producers, check that a producer can actually meet UK requirements before you commit to them, and consolidate a mixed order into one shipment so a UK buyer deals with one partner in Italy instead of eight.

What UK buyers are actually dealing with in 2026

Since Brexit, buying Italian food into Great Britain sits somewhere between an EU purchase and a full import. Three things are true at once, and most suppliers only tell you about the first.

• Duty. Goods of EU origin enter the UK at zero tariff under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, provided they satisfy the rules of origin and the supplier can evidence it. That evidence is the supplier's job, and a producer who has never exported outside the EU often does not know how to provide it.
• Customs. Zero tariff is not the same as no customs. A customs declaration is still required and import VAT still applies. There is no version of this where a pallet moves from Italy to the UK the way it moves from Italy to Germany.
• Sanitary and phytosanitary controls. This is the part that stops containers. Products of animal origin, which for our range means cheese and cured meats above all, are risk-categorised. Medium-risk goods require an export health certificate signed on the Italian side, a pre-notification submitted in IPAFFS at least one working day before the goods are expected to arrive, and entry through a point of entry with a relevant border control post. Documentary, identity and physical checks can be applied.

The practical consequence for a buyer is simple. An Italian producer who ships happily to France may be entirely unable to ship to Preston, because their plant is not set up to produce the certification the UK requires. That is a sourcing question, not a logistics question, and it is better answered before you fall in love with a product.

What changes in 2027

The UK and the EU have agreed a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement intended to take effect in mid-2027. When it does, export health certificates and routine border checks on most agrifood goods moving between Great Britain and the EU are expected to fall away. Customs controls will remain, and some checks will remain for higher-risk goods.

Two things follow from that if you are planning a UK range now. The certification burden on the first year of a new Italian supplier is heavier than it will be from 2027 onward, so a producer's willingness to go through it is a real signal of how seriously they take the UK. And a range built now on producers who can already certify will simply get cheaper to run when the agreement lands, rather than needing to be rebuilt.

What we supply to the UK market

• Cheese, from mozzarella and burrata through to hard cheeses and PDO ranges. See our Italian cheese range.
• Cured meats and salumi, including our own San Chimento range, prosciutto crudo, cotto, mortadella and speciality cuts.
• Pastry and bakery, from biscotti and breakfast pastries to frozen and ambient formats for foodservice. See our Italian pastry and bakery range.
• Extra virgin olive oil, in retail formats and in bulk. See Italian olive oil.
• Pasta and grains, dry and speciality formats. See Italian pasta.
• Preserved foods, sauces, seafood and soft beverages, sourced to brief.

How we work with a UK buyer

We start with your channel and your price architecture rather than with a catalogue. A range for a national retailer, a range for a wholesale delivered business and a range for an independent deli group are three different sourcing problems, and the producer that suits one is often wrong for the others.

We then shortlist producers who can meet UK requirements, not just producers who make good product. We check certification, plant capability, format and pack availability, and whether the producer can supply the origin and health documentation the UK entry process requires. Producers who cannot do not reach your shortlist.

We consolidate. Most UK buyers building an Italian range are buying small volumes across many producers, which is exactly the situation that makes direct sourcing uneconomic. We combine your products into one shipment out of Italy, so you take a mixed pallet rather than eight separate small orders with eight sets of documents.

We stay in it after the first order. Reorder cycles, seasonal availability, format changes and price movement all get handled from the Italian side, in English, by people who can drive to the plant.

Who we work with in the UK

• Importers and distributors building or extending an Italian range.
• Wholesalers supplying independent retail and foodservice.
• HORECA suppliers serving restaurants, pizzerias and hotel groups.
• Specialty, gourmet and delicatessen retail.
• Category managers at retail chains looking for a private label or own-brand Italian range.

Private label for a UK own-brand range

We run private label programmes across cured meats, bakery, cheese and oil. ALL FOOD owns the brand specification and Italian producers manufacture to it, which means a UK buyer can put an own-brand Italian range on shelf without negotiating individually with each plant. Certifications available across our range include IFS Food, BRC Food, ICEA organic, antibiotic-free and gluten-free, and IGP designations on specific products. Which apply depends on the product and the plant, so we confirm them per line rather than blanket.

Read more about our private label programme.

Frequently asked questions