Germany further relaxes foot-and-mouth restrictions
Germany hopes the disease is contained
13 February 2025
2 minute read
By: Germany is relaxing some of the restrictions imposed following a case of foot-and-mouth disease and believes measures taken to contain the outbreak are working, Reuters reported, citing the country’s agriculture ministry on Wednesday.
Germany announced the country's first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in nearly 40 years on Jan. 10 in a herd of water buffalo near Berlin. The outbreak remains at one case, with no others reported, although the cause is still unknown.
The European Commission has approved the lifting of a three-kilometre protection zone around the original case and its redesignation as an observation zone as no new cases have been discovered, the agriculture ministry said.
This will apply until Feb. 24, then a smaller area will be under observation until April 11.
Three months must pass without a new case before Germany can be regarded as foot-and-mouth disease free.
The ministry said it is preparing an application to the World Organisation for Animal Health to have Germany declared free of foot-and-mouth. This could enable export restrictions on German meat and dairy products to be lifted.
"Our determined action against foot-and-mouth is paying off," said German agriculture minister Cem Oezdemir. "The outbreak is still restricted to one farm. This shows that the actions we took were correct and are effective."
The EU Commission says Germany's efforts to combat the disease would enable the regionalisation principle to be used.
Under this rule, sales of meat and dairy products are only restricted from the region where the disease has been confirmed. This means that falls in German pig prices have been moderate.
Measures to contain the disease, which poses no danger to humans, often involve bans on imports of meat and dairy products from affected countries, with Britain and South Korea among states imposing import bans on Germany.
