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Meat exports to resume

12/10/2007

Meat exports from Scotland, Wales and parts of England are set to resume in the wake of the recent outbreaks of foot and mouth and bluetongue disease.

Those farms which are within areas considered to be at low risk from both diseases will be permitted to resume exports.

However a 3km protection zone, within which all movement is banned, remains in place around farms where foot and mouth cases were confirmed in the Egham area of Surrey.

Meanwhile the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced yesterday that existing bluetongue control and protection zones were being extended following confirmation of further cases of the viral disease in Essex.

The UK's deputy chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg said: "Finding further cases is not unexpected, particularly given the nature of the disease and its spread by midges, and we expect to see more cases before the end of the active midge season this winter."

European officials agreed on October 3rd to allow meat and meat products to be exported again from certain areas of the UK.

At the time environment secretary Hilary Benn said that while he was aware that difficulties remained for some farmers, the partial lifting of the export ban would come as "good news for the majority of farmers in Great Britain".

"I hope that as exports resume this will ease the very real pressures farmers have been facing and we will continue to do all we can to enable exports to resume from the remaining parts of Britain as soon as possible," he said.

This week the National Farmers Union (NFU) welcomed the government's £12.5 million aid package to help livestock farmers in England recover from the impact of the foot and mouth and bluetongue outbreaks, but warned that the assistance fell "far short" of the £100 million lost by the industry to date.