Farmers in Northern Ireland were last night preparing to resume the export of meat and livestock after EU veterinary experts lifted foot and mouth restrictions that have been in place for nearly four months.
The decision was met with jubilation among the province's farming community which now faces the task of winning back trade worth more than £200 million ($655 million) before the outbreak of the disease.
A meeting of the EU Standing Veterinary Committee in Brussels lifted the export ban following the completion of a six-week quarantine since the last foot and mouth case in Ulster on April 22.
Exports of lamb, pork, dairy products and live pigs will resume once the decision is formally adopted by the EU Commission – expected on Thursday – with live sheep sales to follow on July 1.
A ban on the export of beef and cattle will remain in place but the EU committee decided Northern Ireland should enjoy a special regional exemption within the UK to export other produce.
The decision was welcomed by farming leaders and Stormont ministers amid a warning that vigilance needed to be maintained and that work was needed to regain lost markets.
The vote to lift the export restrictions, which was opposed by Spain but approved by all other EU member states, was accompanied by permission to move sheep to common grazing ground.
- INDEPENDENT
EU ban lifted on Northern Ireland meat
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