Guidance

20 February 2026: Outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Cyprus

Updated 22 February 2026

OVS note number: 2026/06

Date: 20 February 2026

Purpose

To inform you of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the Republic of Cyprus, and request that commercial imports of the following commodities from the Republic of Cyprus should be held until further notice:

• live (including non-domestic) ruminant and porcine animals, including wild game, and their germplasm
• fresh meat from ruminant and porcine animals (including chilled and frozen)
• meat products from ruminant and porcine animals that have not been subject to heat treatment D1, D, C or B as defined in Annex 1 (including wild game)
• milk, colostrum and their products, unless subjected to treatment as defined in Article 4 of Regulation 2010/605 (see Annex 1)
• certain animal by-products derived from FMD-susceptible animals (a full list of which is provided in Annex 2)
• casings derived from FMD-susceptible species
• hay and straw

Background

The Republic of Cyprus has reported an outbreak of FMD: Announcement of the Veterinary Services regarding the detection of an incident of foot-and-mouth disease in Livadia, Larnaca - Gov.cy. This was detected in a cattle farm in Livadia, Larnaca.

The UK Office for SPS Trade Assurance will implement restrictions against commercial imports of the following commodities from the Republic of Cyprus:

• live (including non-domestic) ruminant and porcine animals, including wild game, and their germplasm
• fresh meat from ruminant and porcine animals (including chilled and frozen)
• meat products from ruminant and porcine animals that have not been subject to heat treatment D1, D, C or B as defined in Annex 1 (including wild game)
• milk, colostrum and their products, unless subjected to treatment as defined in Article 4 of Regulation 2010/605 (see Annex 1)
• certain animal by-products (a full list of which is provided in Annex 2)
• casings derived from FMD-susceptible species
• hay and straw

The UK Office for SPS Trade Assurance is also coordinating restrictions on imports of hay and straw from the Republic of Cyprus.

A separate OVS note will be issued when these restrictions are implemented. In the meantime, any consignments from the Republic of Cyprus of the above-mentioned commodities should be held.

For clarity Annex 1 sets out the specific risk mitigating treatments that are acceptable for imports of meat and dairy products from Cyprus.

FMD-susceptible animals under the Foot and Mouth Disease (England) Order 2006 means ‘a cow, bull, sheep, goat, deer, camel, llama, alpaca, guanaco, vicuna, any other ruminant, any swine (that is, a member of the suborder Suina of the order Artiodactyla), elephant or rodent (other than a pet rodent)’.

Annex 1

Meat products intended for human consumption – acceptable risk mitigating treatments (Annex II, Part 4 of Assimilated Decision 2007/777)

B Treatment in a hermetically sealed container to an Fo value of three or more.

C A minimum temperature of 80°C which must be reached throughout the meat and/or stomachs, bladders and intestines during the processing of the meat product and treated stomachs, bladders and intestines.

D A minimum temperature of 70°C which must be reached throughout the meat and/or stomachs, bladders and intestines during the processing of meat products and treated stomachs, bladders and intestines, or for raw ham, a treatment consisting of natural fermentation and maturation of not less than nine months and resulting in the following characteristics:

• Aw value of not more than 0.93,
• pH value of not more than 6.0.

D1 Thorough cooking of meat, previously deboned and defatted, subjected to heating so that an internal temperature of 70°C or greater is maintained for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Treatments D and D1 are sufficient for the imports of meat products using meat from FMD susceptible animals except for products made with pork coming from African Swine Fever (ASF) Restricted Zones III (ASF present in domestic pigs). For those products, the overlapping ASF-related conditions (treatment C) must be complied with as per the list.

Milk and dairy products including colostrum for human consumption – acceptable risk mitigating treatments (Article 4 of Assimilated Regulation 605/2010)

The product must undergo one of the following treatments:

(a) a sterilisation process, to achieve an Fo value equal to or greater than three; or

(b) an ultra-high temperature (UHT) treatment at not less than 135°C in combination with a suitable holding time; or

(c)

1. a high temperature short time pasteurisation treatment (HTST) at 72°C for 15 seconds applied twice to milk with a pH equal to or greater than 7.0 achieving, where applicable, a negative reaction to an alkaline phosphatase test, applied immediately after the heat treatment; or
2. a treatment with an equivalent pasteurisation effect to point (i) achieving, where applicable, a negative reaction to an alkaline phosphatase test, applied immediately after the heat treatment;

(d) a HTST treatment of milk with a pH below 7.0; or

(e) a HTST treatment combined with another physical treatment by either:

1. lowering the pH below 6 for one hour, or
2. additional heating equal to or greater than 72°C, combined with desiccation.

Annex 2: Animal by-products (ABPs) to be held

(a) Wool and hair, unless it complies with sub-paragraph (c) or (d) in Article 25 (2) of Regulation 142/2011

(b)Untreated pig bristles (GBHC571)

(c) Pig bristles (GBHC570), unless boiled for at least one hour

(d) Treated hides and skins (GBHC541 & GBHC542), except:

1. hides and skins having undergone the complete process of tanning;
2. wet blue;
3. pickled pelts;
4. limed hides which have been treated with lime and in brine at a pH of 12 to 13 for at least eight hours.

(e) Untreated game trophies and other preparations of ungulates consisting of entire anatomical parts (GBHC543)

(f) Treated game trophies or other preparations consisting of hides and skins (GBHC544), except those referred to in paragraph (1) of Section 5 of Chapter II of Annex 14 to Regulation 142/2011.

(g) Treated game trophies or other preparations consisting of bone, horns, hooves, claws, antlers or teeth (GBHC544), except those referred to in paragraph (1) of Section 5 of Chapter II of Annex 14 to Regulation 142/2011, unless immersed in boiling water for an appropriate time so as to ensure that any matter other than bone, horns, hooves, claws, antlers or teeth is removed, and disinfected with hydrogen peroxide where parts consisting of bone are concerned.

(h) Rendered fats for use outside the feed chain (GBHC511), unless subjected to one of the processing methods 1 to 5 as referred to in Chapter III of Annex IV to Regulation 142/2011.

(i) Fat derivatives (GBHC513 and GBHC512) unless subjected to one of the following treatments:

1. transesterification or hydrolysis at least 200°C, under corresponding appropriate pressure, for 20 minutes (glycerol, fatty acids and esters);
2. hydrogenation at 160°C at 12 bars (12000 hPa) pressure for 20 minutes;
3. any of the processing methods 1 to 5, as referred to in Chapter III of Annex IV to Regulation 142/2011; or
4. saponification with NaOH 12M (glycerol and soap) in a—
1. batch process at 95°C for three hours; or
2. continuous process at 140°C, 2 bars (2000 hPa) for eight minutes.

(j) Milk, milk-based products and milk-derived products not for human consumption (GBHC583)

(k) Colostrum and colostrum products (GBHC587)

(l) Bones and bone products, horns and horn products and hooves and hoof products intended for use other than as feed material organic fertilisers or soil improvers, unless accompanied by a commercial document stamped by the Competent Authority supervising the establishment of origin that one of the treatments referred to in points (iii), (iv) or (v) of paragraph 2(d) of Annex XIV, Chapter II, Section 7 of Regulation 142/2011 has been applied.

(m) Processed manure from FMD-susceptible animals (GBHC550).

(n) Dog chews (GBHC563) made from untanned hides and skins or from bones of susceptible animals. Other types of dog chew will continue to be permitted if they comply with the treatment requirements in GBHC563.

(o) Processed petfood (other than canned petfood) unless it has been subjected to one of the treatments referred to in points (i), (ii), (iii) or (v) of paragraph 3(b) of Chapter II in Annex XIII to Regulation 142/2011.

(p) Blood products for feed material (GBHC500)

(q) Untreated blood products, excluding from equidae, for the manufacture of derived products for uses outside the feed chain for farmed animals (GBHC502)

(r) Fresh or chilled hides and skins (GBHC540)

(s) Raw petfood (GBHC562)

(t) Flavouring innards for the manufacture of petfood (GBHC564)

(u) Animal by-products for the manufacture of petfood other than raw petfood (GBHC565)

(v) Animal by-products for the manufacture of products for uses outside the feed chain for farmed animals (GBHC580)

(w) Non-harmonised animal by-products and derived products (IMP/GEN/2025/09) and display items (IMP/GEN/2025/08) from FMD-susceptible animals – importers should be advised to submit an IV58 form to the Centre for International Trade, APHA

Contact point for enquiries

Email: bbtp-issue-triage@defra.gov.uk imports@apha.gov.uk

Imports and EU Trade Team