LONDON — Farmers, bakers and food producers have added their voices to warnings that Brexit could become a dinner plate issue. And they weren’t mincing words: they called Brexit a catastrophe and said they were too busy preparing for it to deal with any other business issues.

In a letter to Michael Gove, the secretary of state for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, trade associations said, “Business throughout the U.K. food chain — and their trade associations — are now totally focused on working to mitigate the catastrophic impact of a no-deal Brexit.”

“Neither we nor our members have the physical resources nor organizational bandwidth to engage with and properly respond to non-Brexit related policy consultations or initiatives at this time,” they wrote on Friday.

The department responded on Tuesday that it was meeting with representatives on a weekly basis. “While we have intensified our no-deal planning, we are continuing to tackle other priority issues that matter to people, including our plans to reduce plastic waste and deliver a Green Brexit,” it said an email.