DUBAI, 7 August 2007 — The United Arab Emirates yesterday banned the import of British meat and livestock following an outbreak foot and mouth disease in the UK, the WAM news agency reported.
Minister of the Environment and Water Mohammed Al-Kendi imposed an immediate ban on “all types of live hoofed animals and their bi-products from Britain” due to the outbreak, WAM said.
The minister ordered its Animals Wealth Department to coordinate with other concerned authorities to put the ban in place.
The decision comes after the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed that animals in Britain had been infected with the foot and mouth disease.
The European Union has also announced a formal EU-wide import ban on British meat and livestock.
In February, as a precautionary measure, the UAE banned the import of live birds and poultry products from Suffolk in England following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in a turkey farm there.
The Abu Dhabi government also banned the import of live birds and poultry products from India following an outbreak of avian virus in the country’s northeast late last month.
The latest scare — which has raised the specter of a disastrous epidemic in 2001 that saw up to 10 million animals slaughtered — was triggered by the discovery of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease in a herd of cattle late Friday.
