Foot and mouth disease - latest information
Latest information for Soil Association licensees:
Bans on livestock movement in low-risk foot-and-mouth areas across Britain have now been lifted.
Defra has confirmed that the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Surveillance Zone will be lifted on Monday 5 November subject to there being no change in the disease situation and the completion of the necessary surveillance testing.
Extensive surveillance has been completed in the FMD Surveillance Zone and no further cases of FMD have been discovered.
The current Restricted Zone, and movement restrictions that apply in this zone, remain in place.
Discussions are ongoing with the European Commission regarding further changes to allow the easing of export restrictions.
Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer, Fred Landeg, said:
“Animal Health have completed extensive surveillance work in the FMD Surveillance Zone and the negative results now allow us to lift the Surveillance Zone which will be welcome news to many farmers. However farmers must remain vigilant and continue to check their animals for signs of disease twice daily.”
To keep up to date with the latest Defra communications follow the link below.
A statement from Phil Stocker, head of food and farming at the Soil Association:
“This further confirmed case of foot and mouth disease – just five days after restrictions were lifted after the initial outbreak in early August – shows that the Government’s reliance on slaughter alone failed to contain the disease. Now is the time to deploy strategic vaccination to create a firebreak around the wider area and to stop any further spread of the virus.
“In 2001, the Netherlands deployed vaccination in this manner – within three days the Dutch had vaccinated 100,000 animals, and within eight days the Netherlands was free of foot and mouth disease.
“Defra now has sufficient doses of appropriate vaccine – and the trained teams ready to administer it – so there is no reason to further delay deploying vaccination. And this must be a ‘vaccinate to live’ policy, rather than slaughtering perfectly healthy animals simply to serve the interests of a few large exporters.
“Strategic vaccination should provide the space to understand how the virus moved beyond the original protection and surveillance zones. The short period when animal movement restrictions were lifted is of great concern and stock could have travelled all over the country, potentially carrying infection with them. Defra must now track all such livestock movements – if it is confirmed that significant numbers of animals have moved to specific areas, these areas should also be surrounded by a strategic ring-fence of vaccination.
“We must all remain extremely vigilant on farm but it is also important that everyone recognises that the countryside is not closed down. As long as we all follow strict biosecurity measures, and assess the risks carefully, we should be able to continue with life as normal.”
Producer members needing technical advice can contact the Soil Association food and farming department on 0117 914 2400.
Inspections
All inspections outside of the FMD low risk area (such as Scotland and Wales and most of north west and south west England) will resume on Monday 1 October. For more information call 0117 914 2412.
Advice
Download the latest Soil Association briefing, which includes a statement from Phil Stocker, Soil Association head of food and farming, and points of guidance for livestock
» food and mouth update - Thursday 13 September [PDF, 710KB]
For Defra’s latest information on the foot and mouth situation and advice on biosecurity good practice
» latest information from Defra
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