Authorities in the Netherlands fear a foot-and-mouth epidemic after nine "particularly virulent form" cases of the disease were confirmed last night. The Dutch Agriculture Ministry said five cattle and four goats had tested positive for foot-and-mouth.
The EU has suspended all Dutch meat and dairy exports and the movement of livestock and people has been restricted. The public has been banned from visiting any farms in the country and strict constraints have been put on public gatherings such as an international showjumping event.
All milk transport from farms was banned, together with the movement of poultry, animal foodstuffs and haulier transports. The authority for Rotterdam port, where ingredients for animal feed are landed, said a long drawn-out ban would have catastrophic effects for European imports and exports of animal feed. The Dutch livestock sector estimated losses at over £530 million, after confirmation that the Netherlands was the second continental European country after France to become contaminated.
Supermarkets and shops here are expected to start running short of meat and dairy products within a few days.
Mr Gerard Doornbos of the Dutch Livestock and Meat Board said: "We feared the worst because of our vulnerable position so close to Britain and as a prime trading country."
An added worry is the close proximity of Dutch farms to each other in this densely populated country. Within a radius of one-and-a-half miles of the two affected farms (which are 80 kms away from each other in Olst and Oene), up to 1,500 farms have been sealed off.
More than 20,000 animals from the farms are being destroyed but they will be vaccinated first as part of emergency procedures to halt the spread. The Dutch Agriculture Minister, Mr Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, said at a press conference: "It is a desperate blow to our vital agriculture industry; we had hoped against hope to avoid foot-and-mouth in Holland."
Due to the stringent measures taken on the movement of livestock since the British, and more recently the French, outbreaks, the Dutch Agriculture Ministry believes the cases were caused by human contact or that the disease was carried on the wind from England.
The farm at Oene in the province of Gelderland - where four goats , out of a herd of 76 were confirmed as infected last night - imported Irish calves in January, it emerged. A spokesman for the Dutch Agriculture Ministry said that 74 calves from the Republic were destroyed earlier this week as fears heightened about an outbreak on the farm.
Reacting to earlier speculation that the Irish calves might have been carrying the disease suspected at the goat farm, he added: "We do not suspect any Irish link at all; the Irish calves were imported long before the first outbreaks in Britain were discovered."
The outbreak on the beef farm at Olst in the north-eastern part of the Netherlands was discovered by a local vet during a routine visit on Tuesday. He raised the alarm with the veterinary inspectorate and the outbreak was confirmed by midmorning yesterday. The authorities confirmed a ninth case at a farm in nearby Velsem last night.
The Netherlands has introduced a raft of measures against the virus.