McConalogue urges vigilance following foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Germany

Donegal minister, Charlie McConalogue, is urging the farming community to stay vigilant and protect Irish livestock following confirmation of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Germany.

Germany’s first case of foot-and-mouth since 1988 was detected in water buffalo in the state of Brandenburg.

“I am dismayed to hear of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Germany today. I know this is a terrible blow to German farmers, particularly the affected herdowner and their neighbours,” the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine commented.

“I know the German authorities are working hard to resolve this. I want to urge everyone in Ireland, particularly farmers, to stay vigilant and to protect our Irish livestock,” Minister McConalogue added.

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FMD is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle, sheep, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals. It causes very significant economic losses, due to production losses in the affected animals and due to the loss of access to foreign markets for animals, meat and milk for affected countries. FMD does not infect humans and does not pose a food safety risk. Ireland is free of FMD, having had its last case in 2001.

The Department is taking action to protect Irish livestock following this outbreak. The Department has confirmed that no animals susceptible to FMD (i.e. cattle, sheep, pigs, etc) have been imported into Ireland from Germany since 1st November 2024, which is long before the case in Germany would have been first infected.

Ireland’s controls to prevent FMD include strict prohibitions on the imports of animals and animal products from countries in which FMD is present; a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect unusual disease outbreaks; and active follow up and veterinary investigation of any suspects reports.

If a FMD case were to be identified in Ireland, the infected herd would be culled, the site disinfected, and a 3k protection zone and 10k surveillance zone set up, within which very strict movement controls and testing would be imposed. A national movement ban is very likely to be imposed in the first days after any initial FMD case. If a case of FMD were to occur in Ireland, it would lead to the immediate loss of market access for Irish animals and animal products.