Government not prepared for severe animal disease outbreak, MPs warn

However, it said the Government response would be extremely stretched, with more than a quarter of local public services not confident in their capabilities.

The PAC’s report, published today, found that the hard work going into tackling the five-year bird flu outbreak has diverted resources away from other diseases.

Only yesterday, the housing order to combat avian influenza was expanded from Yorkshire to cover the whole of England.

It comes after 68,000 free-range hens were culled after a highly-pathonogenic strain was identified in a large commercial poultry premises north-west of Bedale, near Hackforth.

However, at the same time animal diseases such as FMD and African swine fever have been sweeping across the continent, leaving British farmers concerned.

The PAC report has found that current border controls are unable to address the level of risk from black market meat bringing animal diseases into the country.

Vans are arriving stuffed with room temperature meat products packaged in plastic bags, newspaper and cardboard boxes, which are then being sold at markets.

These are often originating from countries like Romania, where there is an import ban due to African swine fever.

Earlier in the year, the Government was forced to ban personal meat and dairy imports from Europe to try and stop the spread of such diseases.

The Yorkshire Post previously reported concerns at how a number of at-risk products managed to make it through UK border controls from countries with a foot and mouth outbreak.

Now the PAC has said that the Port of Dover Health Authority currently only receives funding to allow it to complete proactive illegal meat checks 20 per cent of the time.

It added that there has been a 55-fold increase in seizures of illegal meat imports over the last two years.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, PAC chair, said: “The bill for the major foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001 ran into multiple billions for the public and private sector.

“Serious animal disease outbreaks pose a severe threat to wildlife, and the farming sector, and in the case of zoonotic diseases, to human health.

“Our latest report should therefore be of the deepest concern to all of us. Hard work has been done to respond to the current outbreaks of bird flu and, amongst sheep and cattle, bluetongue virus.

“But the necessity for a semi-permanent response to these current outbreaks has pulled government away from vital preparations for future threats – which have to be treated as a matter of when, not if.”

A Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson said: “This Government’s commitment to maintaining the country’s biosecurity in the face of the mounting risks of disease is unwavering.

“We're transforming biosecurity after years of neglect with over £1bn investment in a new National Biosecurity Centre that will detect threats earlier, track diseases faster, and respond more effectively to keep the country safe."

Richard Lewis, Animal & Plant Health Agency CEO, added: “We have successfully delivered disease outbreak response almost continuously over recent years, including managing the largest outbreak of avian influenza this country has ever experienced and managing the spread of bluetongue disease to protect farmers while giving time for vaccination.

“We welcome this report and will study the findings in detail so that the nation can remain at the forefront of surveillance, diagnostics, research, and rapid response.”