The South African Meat Industries Company (SAMIC) has advised of a suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in neighbouring Mozambique.

Twenty suspect cattle have been identified on grazing land shared by three villages in the district of Manhiça, in the country’s Maputo province. As well as placing Manhiça under quarantine, the authorities have begun vaccinating all cattle in the district and stepped up their surveillance efforts.

Describing the outbreak as ‘a great concern’, SAMIC CEO Manie Booysen, said he suspected lax border controls had allowed the disease to spill over into Mozambique from Zimbabwe. However, no incidences of the disease had so far been reported in South Africa, he observed, adding that the government had reacted quickly to the reports by strengthening border controls.