Ban on bringing meat/dairy products from EU

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There is a temporary ban on holidaymakers bringing meat and dairy products into the UK from the EU because of risks of foot and mouth disease.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2vpp8zzd7o

How can it be enforced? Search every suitcase?

It is the same way they enforce drug smuggling, a combination of checks.

They have X ray machines that can detect organic matter and, if they see that, and you haven’t declared it, they search the bag. And if they find illegal food, you get it confiscated and a fine.

What @Newbutoldfather said..Random checks at point of entry,

Remember customs procedures for arrivals into the UK from the EU came back post Brexit/transition.

Not many get checked but if you get selected for a examination ham sandwiches etc will now another item on the list of things border officials look for

How much enforcement will it need? You'd hope most people would follow customs rules.

You never been in Australia @oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends

I reckon you could just make everyone go through a room of Labradors. More seriously though, UK biosecurity needs much more funding, and @inkognitha is right, we could (and should) be more like Australia in our approach.

You'd be surprised.
I am in the Disneyland Paris for Brits Facebook group and everytime someone asks about taking food with them, they are reminded that taking meat, dairy, fruit and veg into the EU is illegal. There are always people reply that they took those things and no one checked, so the OP should just go ahead and do it.
I have had my car randomly checked at ferry ports twice and had the passport control person dealing with me been slightly faster I would have been pulled again but instead they pulled the car that cleared the booth next to me as they cleared a few seconds sooner.

There has been a ban on meat and cheese imports in place for a few months now, from four named EU countries (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia) where there actually is a foot & mouth outbreak. Extending it to the whole EU makes legal and technical sense in that the EU is one free trade zone, and the salami you found and liked in a Portuguese supermarket might be made with meat from Germany.

The actual risk of FMD entering the UK in cured meat or cheese is close to zero, but the political cost of this sort of ban is minimal and it's probably reasonable (and enables the government to continue its ambiguous approach to the EU; the Tories would be actively trumpeting this as a Brexit benefit). The US and Australia ask if you've been on a farm in the last 7 days when you arrive, which is probably a more likely source of contamination.

Since the risk is so small, I don't anticipate more shifts for customs officers at Stansted pulling people over at random to see if they have a box of La Vache Qui Rit processed cheese triangles.