FARMERS have welcomed the European Union's ban on personal meat imports as another positive step towards protecting British agriculture from the introduction of exotic disease.

The NFU has been lobbying for the ban, which will prohibit the personal importation of meat and milk products into the EU from January 1, 2003, unless they meet stringent conditions.

NFU Food Standards chairman Michael Seals said: "Foot-and-mouth highlighted the need for much tighter controls on food imports. The new rules are much more stringent than the current regime and, importantly, much clearer. However, there must be sufficient resources devoted to public education and enforcement of the new rules."

He stressed: "These products are a potential disease risk and must be properly controlled and checked, and travellers must be made aware of the restrictions.

"For too long British livestock has been put at risk by the inability to control personal imports of meat and animal products by visitors from beyond the EU. The NFU has lobbied strenuously for 18 months for an EU-wide ban as the most effective way of closing this gap in border controls."