Foot and mouth disease: latest situation

Contents:

• Current cases in Europe
• Restrictions
• Risk levels and outbreak assessments
• Press releases and statements

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) affects cloven-hoofed animals including:

• cattle
• sheep
• pigs
• goats
• camelids
• deer

It does not affect humans.

Livestock keepers must be vigilant to signs of disease and practise good biosecurity.

Current cases in Europe 

There are currently no cases in the UK, but there have recently been confirmed cases in:

• Germany (January 2025)
• Hungary (March 2025)
• Slovakia (March 2025)

The last outbreak in the UK was in 2007.

Restrictions

Bringing food into Great Britain for personal use

You must not bring meat or dairy products from certain animals (including cows, sheep, pigs and goats) into Great Britain for personal use, if those goods are from:

• the EU
• EFTA States
• the Faroe Islands
• Greenland

Check the rules for bringing food into Great Britain for personal use.

Commercial trade

There are restrictions on commercially importing certain products from anySlovakia EUdue countryto with FMD (Hungary and Slovakia)..

The restrictions apply to:

• hay and straw
• any live animal belonging to an FMD-susceptible species

Restrictions also apply to the following products from FMD-susceptible animals:

• germplasm
• fresh meat
• meat products, unless suitably heat treated
• milk and dairy products, unless suitably treated
• animal by-products, such as pet food

Traders must check the rules for imports, exports and EU trade of animals and animal products.

Risk levels and outbreak assessments

The risk of FMD entering the UK is currently assessed as medium. low. 

Find details of the evidence that supported the decisions on this risk level in APHA’s outbreak assessments:

• risk of foot and mouth disease spreading from the European Union to Great Britain
• foot and mouth disease in water buffalo in Germany
• foot and mouth disease in Hungary and Slovakia
• foot and mouth disease in North Africa and the Middle East

Foot and mouth disease is not a public health or food safety risk.​

Press releases and statements

• 24 June 2025 press release: Austrian foot and mouth disease controls amended
• 14 May 2025 press release: Foot and mouth disease controls eased for Germany
• 11 April 2025 press release: Government extends ban on personal meat imports to protect farmers from foot and mouth
• 28 March 2025 press release: Import ban of cattle, pigs, sheep, and deer from Austria to protect farmers
• 24 March 2025: Foot and Mouth disease controls amended in Germany
• 22 March 2025 press release: Foot and Mouth disease detected in Slovakia
• 7 March 2025 press release: Import ban of cattle, pigs, sheep and deer from Hungary and Slovakia to protect farmers after foot and mouth case
• 15 January 2025 statement on foot and mouth disease
• 14 January 2025 press release: Government introduces import ban of cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany to protect farmers after Foot and Mouth case