The government has announced an import ban of livestock from Austria following a new case of foot-and-mouth disease in neighbouring Hungary.
The disease was confirmed on Wednesday (26 March) on a large dairy farm in northwest Hungary, close to the Austrian border.
This is Hungary's second confirmed outbreak, as FMD was detected on a large cattle farm on 7 March, making it the country's first case in 50 years.
In neighbouring Slovakia, three farms confirmed outbreaks of the disease last week in a southern region home to large populations of pigs and cattle.
The cases came just two months after the disease was confirmed in a small herd of water buffalo near Berlin, Germany, which also has a UK import ban.
Due to the proximity of the new Hungarian case to the Austrian border, the UK government said on Friday (28 March) that it had suspended commercial imports from Austria.
These include cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, wild ruminants and porcines (including deer and wild boar), and their untreated products such as fresh meat and dairy.
In addition, travellers can no longer bring meat, meat products, milk and dairy products, certain composite products and animal by products of pigs and ruminants, or hay or straw, from Austria.
The UK's chief veterinary officer urged livestock keepers to remain vigilant to the clinical signs of FMD following the recent outbreaks in Hungary, Slovakia and Germany.
Dr Christine Middlemiss said: "Following the detection of a second FMD case in Hungary, with a restriction area crossing the border into Austria, we have taken action to prevent the commercial import of potentially risky goods from Austria.
"I would urge livestock keepers to continue exercising the upmost vigilance for signs of disease, ensure scrupulous biosecurity is maintained and to report any suspicion of disease immediately to the Animal and Plant Health Agency."
FMD poses no risk to human or food safety, but is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals such as deer, llamas and alpacas. Rodents can also be affected.
The disease causes significant economic losses due to production losses in the affected animals as well as loss of access to foreign markets for animals, meat and milk for affected countries.
The 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak saw around 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across the UK.
Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner said of the new case in Hungary: "We will continue to protect our nation’s farmers from the risk posed by foot and mouth disease.
"This is why we have acted immediately to impose import restrictions on Austria, we will continue to keep the situation under review.
"We will not hesitate to add additional countries to the list if the disease continues to spread further."
