The UK has instituted a ban on pigs, sheep, and cattle imports from Germany after a case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in the country.
According to the government on Tuesday it will no longer approve health certificates for animals, fresh meat, and animal products susceptible to the disease to mitigate its spread to the UK, where there are no confirmed cases at the moment.
While there is no risk to humans or food safety, foot-and-mouth disease is highly contagious in pigs, sheep, cattle, and other cloven-hoofed animals.
In 2001 and 2007, the UK suffered serious outbreaks of the disease, causing millions of livestock animals to be slaughtered across the country.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a legally notifiable disease, which means that it is an offence not to report a case to the government.
As well as culling animals, farmers affected by the disease could risk reduced milk production, as well as wider economic implications such as the loss of access to foreign markets for animals and their subsequent products.
The major outbreaks in 2001 and 2007 cost the public and private sectors billions.
The symptoms of the disease for cattle include blisters and sores on their feet, mouth, and tongue, as well as lameness, fever, and reluctance to feed. In sheep and pigs, however, symptoms typically present as lameness and blisters.
Meanwhile, UK Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Christine Middlemiss has asked “livestock keepers to exercise the utmost vigilance for signs of disease, follow scrupulous biosecurity, and report any suspicion of disease immediately to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.”
Meanwhile, the British government recently announced a £200m investment in the UK’s main research and laboratory testing facilities at Weybridge to strengthen protection against animal disease.
