British animal exports banned after foot-and-mouth discovered

As a result of the first outbreak of foot–and–mouth disease for 20 years, the British Government has announced emergency controls on the export of live animals, meat, milk and other animal products.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) has warned farmers to check their animals after the disease was discovered at an abattoir and farm in Essex, England.

It set up a five–mile exclusion zone around the abattoir and farm after the cases were confirmed by Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore.

The disease was spotted after a routine inspection of an abattoir by a vet working for the State Veterinary Service.

He alerted officials after his checks had proved "highly suspicious", with suspected symptoms of foot–and–mouth found in a total of 27 pigs.

The infected pigs arrived at the abattoir last week from two farms – one at Great Horwood in Buckinghamshire and another at Freshwater Bay in the Isle of Wight.

Exclusions were placed around the farms yesterday but MAFF said there had been no confirmation of an outbreak of the disease at either of those farms.

MAFF said it was working with local authorities to contact farmers within the exclusion limits who were being warned to look out for animals either lame or off their feed.

Veterinary inspectors are also investigating a "suspected" outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a farm at Stroud, Gloucestershire.

A spokeswoman said: "We need the assistance of the farming community to check their stock and report any potential symptoms, because this does spread very rapidly."

There is no threat to humans, she said.

The movement restriction zones apply to all cloven hoof animals, including pigs, sheep, goats and cattle, and will remain in place pending further investigation.

Foot–and–mouth is a highly infectious viral disease which can affect cattle, pigs, sheep and goats characterised by the development of blisters in the mouth causing increased salivation and lameness.