SA keeps foot and mouth disease ban in place

South Africa's ban on livestock products from Botswana and Zimbabwe will remain in force until authorities are satisfied there is no longer a risk of contamination from foot and mouth disease (FMD), a Department of Agriculture spokesman said on Friday. Products from Botswana were banned on 10 January 2003 and from Zimbabwe on 12 April 2002 following reported outbreaks of FMD in the two countries. Banned products include fresh milk, butter, cheese, sausages, cooked meat, hides, skins, animal rugs, raw hide drums, whips and hunting trophies, department spokesman Zola Phinda told IRIN on Friday. Zimbabwean veterinary authorities discussed the country's urgent need for vaccine to control the disease with South Africa's Minister of Agriculture Thoko Didiza when she visited Zimbabwe this week. Phinda said that as the disease potentially affected all countries bordering Zimbabwe, it was decided to take a regional approach to disease control at a later meeting of representatives of each country's agriculture department. This meeting would also work towards a regional strategy on factors affecting food security, he added.