The European Union is to reduce the extent of its restrictions on meat and meat products affected by Britain's recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Deputy chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg said the move, which is expected to come into force in mid-November, would help British farmers begin to recover from the economic impact of the disease.
The UK agriculture sector has been hit hard by foot and mouth disease, which appeared after an earlier outbreak in August on September 12th at Egham in Surrey.
No further cases of the disease have been confirmed since September 30th, but the EU has kept its strict regime of controls in place.
Yesterday the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) lifted its surveillance zone and today details of a limited easing of restrictions for EU exports were released.
Under the proposals only meat and products originating from within a relatively small area covering West Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, London, Berkshire and Hertfordshire will not be allowed for export.
A wider area, covering the remaining home counties and the rest of south-east of England, will have exports permitted providing a series of checks are met.
Mr Landeg said he believed the changes would be "a significant step in returning to business as usual for meat and meat products for most of Britain".
"We hope that this advance warning of likely changes will help farm businesses plan for the coming months," he added.
"We are acutely aware of the economic impacts of restrictions on farm businesses resulting from this disease outbreak."
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