EHJ November 2004, pages 350-351
Now that burning pyres of dead animals are a distant memory, we must not allow our defences to drop. Ian Mallinson, adviser to Lacors, warns us of the importance of enforcing current controls

Cast your mind back to 2001, when the farming industry, along with rural communities, was facing its toughest challenge for over 100 years. Foot and mouth, caused by one of the most infectious viruses known, was spreading devastation through the farming and tourist industries. By the end of the outbreak, nearly six and a half million animals had been slaughtered, and the final cost to the country was £8bn. Communities and businesses had been wrecked and lives ruined.

The infection originated at a farm in the northeast where the illegal feeding of untreated meat waste is thought to have transmitted infection to pigs and subsequently to stock grazing in surrounding fields. Rapid livestock movements and sales of sheep from local markets meant that the infection was established in 57 farms before anyone was aware a problem existed. Difficulty in tracing movements of potentially infected animals due to poor records and identification exacerbated the situation and led to the disease spreading as far as the southwest.

In short, controls were either not in place or not being enforced, with devastating consequences. So now, three years on, it is a good time to remind ourselves of the importance of enforcing food and animal health controls.

After the outbreak started, movement controls and slaughter followed. Staff from the then Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, local authority trading standards and EHPs were heavily involved in making sure controls to stop the spread of infection were complied with. Eventually, at huge expense financially and socially, the outbreak was halted. However, the continuing need and importance of compliance with legislation covering food animal identification, movement, and disease control cannot be overstated. We cannot allow this to happen again.

FARM ANIMAL DISEASE

Even the most committed urban "townie" will in recent years have heard of some of the animal disease problems in our countryside, including foot and mouth and mad cow's disease. In addition, the health of our farm animals has been challenged by many other diseases, including swine fever, tuberculosis, brucellosis and Newcastle disease of poultry. Some of these have devastating economic effects, some have serious public health implications and one or two have both.

To protect our farm animals and ourselves from these diseases, essential legislation is in place. The State Veterinary Service, trading standards and environmental health departments advise farmers and those involved with farm animals on the law, helping them to comply. A great deal of effort and expense is made by both bodies in producing literature, making visits and talking on the telephone - the vast majority of this work is provided to the industry free of charge.

In the case of tuberculosis and brucellosis, the government pays for the routine testing of all cattle. It also pays for BSE surveillance and control of the notifiable diseases.

The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) operates the cattle tracing system, which records the movement and location of all cattle in Great Britain. This is also funded by the government and protects us from the risk of BSE-infected cattle entering the food chain.

CONTROLS AND COURTS

If someone fails to comply with the legislation, especially if they have received previous warnings or where movement poses a risk to the nation's health and to livestock, a prosecution may be in the public interest. Such decisions are always taken having regard to the Enforcement Concordat. These prosecutions will normally start in the magistrate's court. Possible offences may include the following.

• Farmers failing to properly identify and keep records of cattle movements to ensure any disease outbreak can be rapidly traced (cattle, sheep and pig identification orders). Records during FMD where not properly kept, resulting in the disease spreading unchecked and unnoticed for long periods of time.
• People moving animals must take sensible precautions to prevent the spread of disease - "biosecurity". This may mean, for example, that a lorry used for moving animals is regularly cleaned and disinfected (cleansing and disinfection orders).
• The welfare of animals on farms or while being moved must be maintained. Neglect of livestock, both in terms of feeding and lack of veterinary care on farm, is distressing. Careful transport is essential to prevent injury or suffering during the journey. Moving animals which are unfit to travel is also prohibited (welfare of animals in transport order).
• Livestock markets often involving the sale of thousands of animals may cause problems of animal welfare eg droving, transport and fitness of animals to be in market. In addition, controls and records of movements in and out plus cleansing and disinfection are critical in controlling spread of disease where animals are brought in from many sources.
• Meat must not be fed back to normal farm livestock, carrying with it the risk of disease transmission. Meat meal fed to cattle in the mid 1980s, which was made from sheep carrying the agent responsible for "scrapie" in sheep is thought to be responsible for BSE and the subsequent human deaths. Animals that die on the farm must be disposed of by a suitable route (transmissible spongiform encephalopathy order, animal by-products regulations).
• When cattle, sheep or goats move onto a farm they impose a "standstill" on the stock already on that farm so that any disease they may be incubating should become apparent before stock is moved off. This means that for six days in the case of cattle, sheep and goats and 20 days in the case of a pig arriving on a farm, no livestock may move from that farm other than to a slaughterhouse and one or two other exceptions (disease control orders)
• Farmers must notify movements of cattle to the BCMS and movements of sheep, goats and pigs to their local authority. These bodies record such notifications and investigate irregular animal movements.

The majority of livestock keepers recognise the need for the present food animal health controls and understand their role in helping prevent the sort of outbreak and national disaster we saw in 2001. Regrettably, there are a few individuals who ignore the rules and put the law-abiding majority at risk.

It is essential that their activities are brought to the attention of the courts so that appropriate penalties and sentences can be imposed. Enforcing officers rely on magistrates courts to make it clear through their sentencing and penalties that offences have serious consequences. It is only by recognising the seriousness of what may sometimes seem to the public a relatively minor offence that the health and welfare of our livestock can be properly protected. All offenders must be made aware that the painful lessons of 2001 have been well learned.

Ian Mallinson is a Regional Representative on the National Animal Health and Welfare Panel of the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (Lacors)