Final tests on a pig at a Leicestershire abbatoir have shown it was not suffering from foot-and-mouth disease.

Concerns were raised on Thursday after the animal showed possible signs of having the virus.

All animal movements were suspended within a five-mile radius of the abattoir - a rural area which included numerous farms and a zoo.

Conclusive tests by the Institute for Animal Health proved negative and all precautionary restrictions were lifted on Monday.

Urgent testing

The slaughtered sow was found with sores around its feet and mouth at the Dawkins International abbatoir in the village of Congerstone.

Samples were taken for urgent testing at the Institute for Animal Health laboratory at Pirbright in Surrey.

A spokesman for the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) said officials would also investigate each of the 34 farms in Yorkshire where the pig may have come from.

A spokesman for Defra said on Monday: "Testing by vets has found no evidence of either disease at holdings where the pig is though to have originated.

"As a result, all movement restrictions are to be lifted."

The last confirmed case of foot-and-mouth was in September 2001 but there have been numerous false alarms since then.