Germany is arranging to slaughter more than 60,000 pigs in a fight against the outbreak of swine fever.

The European Union veterinary committee is also meeting on Wednesday to discuss the crisis.

The cull comes amid calls for a Europe-wide ban on German pig imports.

Other cases of swine fever have been reported in Spain and Holland. Belgium has already unilaterally banned German pigs and Portugal has banned Spanish pork.

German pork may soon be off the menu

In Germany, farmers and politicians in the northeast believe a ban would be unnecessary and damaging.

The Agriculture Minister for Lower Saxony, Karl-Heinz Funke, said: "We culled 8,000 pigs straight away as a precautionary measure although the vast majority were free of swine fever.

"We have the situation under control."

Another 62,000 pigs are earmarked for slaughter in the northeast.

The outbreak was initially at a major pig rearing farm in eastern Germany.

Farmers and politicians hope the cull will mean that any ban is shortlived and confined to areas where the virus has been found.

Scientists are trying to track the extent of the outbreak

But farmers in neighbouring areas fear the precautionary cull may extend to them next.

Pig farmer Alfons Buermann said: "If they cull my sows it will take two years to get back on my feet."

As scientists carry out tests to determine the extent of the outbreak doctors are stressing that the virus cannot be passed to humans.

Spain also has seen a resurgence in swine fever among its 30 million pig population, prompting the Portugese ban.

Madrid is due to present a plan to the EU at the end of the month to eradicate the disease.

But in the Netherlands, which is recovering from an epidemic last year that led to nearly 10 million pigs being slaughtered, the situation has improved dramatically despite a lone fresh case discovered last week.
 

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