Tests have confirmed an outbreak of foot and mouth disease at a third farm in south-east England this month, the environment ministry said Tuesday. "Foot and mouth disease has today been confirmed at the slaughter on suspicion premises where sheep, pigs and cattle were culled last night," the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement.
The latest farm to be affected is west of London in Surrey, inside the three-kilometre (two-mile) protected zone set up last week around two other affected farms nearby, although its precise location has not been revealed. All animals on the site have been slaughtered as a precautionary measure, adding to the 1,000 creatures who have already reportedly been killed during the second outbreak within weeks in Britain.
Little over a week ago, the government declared Britain free of foot and mouth following last month's two outbreaks in Surrey, which were blamed on leaks from a research laboratory. But following the new outbreaks last week, the European Union re-imposed a ban on British meat exports to the bloc's 26 other member states.
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