LONDON (Reuters) -Britain banned imports of cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany on Tuesday to prevent foot-and-mouth disease spreading to Britain, after a case was confirmed in Berlin last week.
The government said that while there were no cases of the livestock disease in Britain at present, the ban would help stop it spreading and protect British farmers and their livelihoods.
German authorities on Friday confirmed the country’s first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in nearly 40 years in a herd of water buffalo on the outskirts of Berlin.
Foot-and-mouth is a severe, highly contagious viral disease of livestock that affects cattle, swine, sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed animals.
While the disease poses no risk to human health or food safety, a particularly severe outbreak in 2001 in Britain culminated in the slaughter of more than 6 million animals, wrecking incomes for many farmers.
“We have robust contingency plans in place to manage the risk of this disease to protect farmers and Britain’s food security, which means using all measures to limit the risk incursion and spread of this devastating disease,” UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said.
“I would urge livestock keepers to exercise the upmost vigilance for signs of disease.”
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, writing by Sarah Young; editing by William James)
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