Ban on UK meat and milk products prolonged by EU

In a statement released on July 11, the European Commission said that the ban on exports of live animals susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease and the ban on untreated fresh meat and fresh milk and milk products from Britain, due to expire on July 20, will now be extended until September 30. So far almost 3.5 million animals have been slaughtered to combat foot-and-mouth disease in Britain and 1,800 farms have been confirmed as harbouring the highly infectious livestock disease. Following outbreaks of classical swine fever in Spain, the EU veterinary experts backed maintaining or extending control measures imposed on parts of the country. Exports of live pigs and porcine semen, ova and embryos are banned until July 31 from various parts of Catalonia, Valencia, Castilla la Mancha and Aragon. An EU mission to Uruguay in June raised concerns about measures put in place to control foot-and-mouth disease in this country, especially over the number of outbreaks and control of animal movements and the meat maturation process, the statement said. The vets voted to prolong the suspension of imports of fresh meat from animals susceptible to foot-and-mouth from Uruguay until the problems have been rectified.