France announces mass slaughter

German customs officers are confiscating British food

France is destroying 20,000 sheep imported from the UK in an attempt to reduce the risk of foot-and-mouth disease spreading across the Channel.

Germany has also announced tighter safety measures, including the slaughter of 1,500 sheep in North Rhine-Westphalia, while Ireland has closed animal markets throughout the republic.

Bare shelves: No UK meat or milk on sale at Marks and Spencer in Paris

In another move the European Union's chief vets, who have been meeting in Brussels to discuss the crisis, decided to extend a ban on British exports of livestock until 9 March.

This comes on top of the UK's own unilateral ban, which ministers have said will remain in force until they are sure the outbreak of the disease has ended.

Mutton demand

The French decision is to kill all sheep imported since 1 February from sites in the UK affected by the disease.

Europe takes action

Netherlands - 4,300 animals killed at farms with UK links, livestock markets closed for a week

Belgium - Nine livestock markets banned for a week, all UK animal transporters must be disinfected.

France - To destroy 20,000 sheep imported from Britain since the start of the month

Germany - Some animals slaughtered, tests ordered on all UK animals

"Because of the growing number of sites with foot-and-mouth disease in Britain and because of the presence in France of animals that came from one of these sites, I have decided to slaughter and destroy 20,000 sheep imported from Britain since 1 February," Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany said in an interview with Radio France Inter.

Half of the sheep have already been slaugthered for commercial purposes, but the meat would be taken out of circulation, Mr Glavany said.

Demand for mutton is currently high in France because the country's large Muslim community is preparing to celebrate the religious holiday of Eid Al-Adha on 5 March.

Airborne transmission

French experts say it is quite possible for the disease to cross the channel, either borne by the wind, or by seagulls.

British sheep in France: 20,000 face slaughter

Germany, where experts also say there is a high risk of the disease appearing, has imported 3,530 sheep from the UK since 20 February.

Authorities in the Neuss district of North Rhine-Westphalia said 1,500 sheep would be slaughtered in addition to 350 which were killed on Monday because they had come from an affected farm in the UK.

German officials said they had been monitoring arrivals at airports to check they were not bringing milk or meat into the country, "down to the last slice of salami".

Both in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, farmers have been asked to adopt a "fortress farm" mentality.

An Irish Agriculture Department spokesman said cattle markets along the border with Northern Ireland had been closed since Friday.

Rugby threat

"That ban has been extended throughout the country, as from yesterday [Monday] evening," he said.

The department has not ruled advising 10,000 rugby fans to avoid travelling to Wales on Saturday for a Six Nations rugby match.

The number of animals slaughtered or due for slaughter in the UK is now about 7,000.

There are as yet no recorded cases of foot-and-mouth in mainland Europe.

The head of the European Union's meat trading association, Jean-Luc Meriaux, said any transmission of foot and mouth to mainland Europe would be "an absolute disaster" for the European meat business, far worse even than mad cow disease.