Animal health organising foot-and-mouth exercise

A national exercise to test the government’s preparedness for a future outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is planned for November.

Exercise “Silver Birch“, will take place on 9-10 November, and will simulate an outbreak of F&M on a national scale to test existing plans and policies for the control and eradication of the disease.

It will involve Animal Health, DEFRA, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and key operational partners.

Gordon Hickman, head of contingency planning for Animal Health, said: “Exercises such as this allow us to identify better ways of working, and help ensure our approach to managing a significant disease outbreak is properly co-ordinated.

“We must continue to test and improve our disease control measures, and put ourselves in the best possible position to minimise the impact on farmers and their livestock should the worst occur.”

An evaluation report for “Silver Birch” will be published in early 2011.