Ban on Austrian Livestock Imports
Import ban of cattle, pigs, sheep, and deer from Austria to protect farmers
The government has stepped up measures to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD), following a further confirmed case in Hungary, close to the Austrian border.
Due to the proximity of the new Hungarian case to the Austrian border, the decision has been made to suspend the commercial import from Austria of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, wild ruminants and porcines (including deer and wild boar), and their untreated products such as fresh meat and dairy.
The UK Government had already taken action to suspend the commercial import of these products from Slovakia, Hungary and Germany.
Action is already underway with local authorities and traders to address possible risks from goods on the way to GB. Such goods must be pre-notified and wider border systems in place will prevent consignments entering GB.
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 (including non-domestic species), or hay or straw, from Austria.
This is in addition to the action already taken by the UK Government to prevent the personal import of these products from Germany, Hungary and Slovakia to Great Britain.
The UK Chief Veterinary Officer is urging livestock keepers to remain vigilant to the clinical signs of FMD following the recent outbreaks in Hungary and Germany. There are no cases in the UK currently.
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 wild boar, deer, llamas and alpacas. Livestock keepers should therefore be absolutely rigorous about their biosecurity.
FMD 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.
Read full article Share on X