Milk tanker triggers virus scare

31 May 2001



Milk tanker triggers virus scare

By Jeremy Hunt, north-west England correspondent

MORE than 25 Cheshire farms are under foot-and-mouth restrictions after a tanker lorry from an infected area of North Yorkshire collected their milk.

The tanker was collecting milk for Express Dairies. It had previously operated in the Settle area, which has suffered more than 30 foot-and-mouth cases.

About 5000 animals have so far been slaughtered because of foot-and-mouth outbreaks in Settle and nearby Clitheroe in Lancashire.

The restricted Cheshire farms are on Form D notices. There have already been three confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the county within a week.

The National Farmers Union has urged farmers to check that milk tankers and drivers visiting their farms were following strict bio-security measures.

A spokeswoman for Express Dairies said the company had gone above and beyond Ministry of Agriculture guidelines aimed at controlling foot-and-mouth.

A MAFF code of practice says vehicles should be disinfected before and after they visit any farm which has been served with a Form D notice, she said.

But Express Dairies goes further, disinfecting all its vehicles on arrival and departure from all farms, the spokeswoman added.

“We are fully complying with the MAFF code of practice and have done so ever since the first outbreak,” she told FARMERS WEEKLY.

“The important thing to understand is that the driver was not breaking rules.”

But Merseyside dairy farmer John Holmes, who milks 75 cows at West Kirby on the Wirral, said he was very disappointed the company had taken such a risk.

“The tanker drivers have been excellent and followed disinfection procedures to the letter,” he said. “But Express Dairies have handled this very badly.”

Knutsford farmer Chris Shaw, deputy chairman of Cheshire NFU, said most of the farms with Form D notices were in the Chester and Wirral areas.

He added: “Im amazed that any company would put its milk producers at risk by using tankers from an area that was infected with foot-and-mouth.

Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) officials have linked 14 of the first 20 cases in the Settle cluster to movements of people, vehicles, equipment and animals.

Keith Whitwell, who runs sheep and sucklers at Tewitthall Farm, Paythorne, near Clitheroe, is surrounded by farms hit by the outbreak.

He said: “Its grossly unfair to blame farmers. Every animal movement has been licensed by MAFF, and farmers have adhered strictly to the regulations.”