The suspension of P&O services at Dover, as well as Easter traffic and IT issues, has caused a "perfect storm" of delays at the port, drivers have warned.
The British Meat Processors Association said some of its members have had to wait more than 24 hours to cross – in some cases resulting in the loss of hundreds of pounds worth of produce.
A spokesperson from the organisation said the suspension of the ferries had combined with other issues to create a 'perfect storm' of problems with the export process.
They added: “The priority for the authorities should be to help lorries with perishable goods get through as quickly as possible.
“Shelf life is being lost, which costs money and creates waste, and business will be lost if this continues.
“We need the authorities to review the situation as soon as possible and take some appropriate actions.”
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It said lorries carrying perishable goods should be allowed to jump day-long queues at Dover to prevent food wastage.
One meat haulier, Eardley International, told the BBC that lorries were experiencing delays of "20 to 25 hours to cross the Channel".
The company based in Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway takes fresh meat from the UK into Europe, company director Graham Eardley explained.
"Our products have a very short shelf life," he explained, adding that the delays were costing the business up to £800 per lorry.
"If we load lamb in the UK on a Monday, we would expect to deliver that product to Germany on a Tuesday. Now we are seeing delays of 25 hours to cross the Channel, and the quality and sale value of that product falls every hour it is delayed."
Toby Howe, of the Kent Resilience Forum, said it was up to the Government to advise on any queue-jumping guidance.
"It is not as simple as saying we will just fast-track meat or anything perishable," he said.
He added that when previous queue-jumping guidance was put in place in 2015, "drivers got clever by putting a small amount [of perishables] in the lorry".
A spokesman for the Government said yesterday: "P&O's unacceptable actions have resulted in its vessels being detained, causing backlogs and traffic jams which would be substantially alleviated if its fleet was operating normally."
Meanwhile, Easter holidaymakers have been stuck in traffic as ferry services attempt to accommodate those who have been hit by the cancellation of P&O services between Dover to Calais.
Eurotunnel said that greater demand at the start of the holidays and a reduction in ferry capacity were creating "a sort of tsunami of traffic all at one time".
"We're running at 25 to 30 per cent above our capacity. The level of traffic that's diverted from those ferries that are out of service is huge," it said.
Britannia Coaches, which is based in Dover and specialises in airport transfers for special educational needs students, said it had been forced to pay staff more to work earlier shifts.
Al Thompson, operations manager at the company, said: "We have about 34 vehicles and 99 per cent are at capacity, so we move a lot of students.
"There's a passenger assistant on board the coaches to help with the students but it's horrendous. The students are crying and shouting, all hell breaking loose."
"We're getting drivers to start earlier to try to get out to their customers on time. We do know some of the back roads you can use, but we're asking drivers to leave anything between 45 minutes and an hour early for jobs.
"We have to pay them more because they can't work for nothing."
Stagecoach South East said seven of the areas it covers have been severely affected by the build-up of vehicles around Dover.
A spokesman said: "Our local teams are working very hard to mitigate the impact on our bus services, but the situation continues to cause considerable disruption across Kent."
