Source: Richard Smith, Meatingplace.com, March 25

South Korea will lower its foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) alert two steps from the highest level as the disease has come under control, Yonhap News Agency has reported.

"The government will lower the FMD alert from 'serious' to 'caution' based upon its judgment that it can now stably control the disease," Prime Minister Hwang-Sik Kim said in a statement.

"Fortunately, the disease has not spread further since February 26," Kim said.

South Korea has been fighting the nationwide spread of the FMD epidemic since the first case was reported November 29. The country has culled more than 3.4 million head of cows, pigs and other animals, causing about 3 trillion won (US$2.6 billion) in damages. In addition, concerns over contamination from burial sites are growing.

The government announced a package of measures to improve the country's systems to cope with outbreaks. Most of the measures focus on introducing a livestock farming permit system from next year.

A permit system will require people seeking to operate livestock farms on a large scale to meet certain standards and undergo quarantine and sanitation education to be offered by the authorities. All operators of small-scale farms will be required to register themselves to the authorities under the existing system.

The government also decided to toughen its early-stage response to FMD outbreaks by banning all trucks carrying livestock feed and waste across the country from moving around for a certain period, in addition to getting help from military units to contain the disease at its earliest stages.

To increase its ability to control animal diseases, the government said it will launch the state quarantine headquarters through a merger of three different organizations: the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, the National Plant Quarantine Service, and the National Fisheries Products Quality Inspection Service.

Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Jeong-Bok Yoo also said the country’s fight against FMD is now nearly over.

"Our campaign against livestock foot-and-mouth disease has now entered a phase of termination, though we cannot say for now that the situation is completely over because we are still using vaccines," Yoo said in a policy consultation meeting between the government and the ruling party.

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