Burning carcasses on mass pyres became a regular sight in 2001

The outbreak saw about seven million animals slaughtered and devastation for many farms and rural businesses.

The crisis is estimated to have cost the country up to �8bn.

Ministers were criticised for failing to prepare properly for an outbreak on that scale and for not halting the spread of the disease quickly enough.

It was the first major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since 1967, when 442,000 animals were slaughtered.

The first case in the 2001 outbreak was at an abattoir in Brentwood, Essex, in February of that year.

Impact on tourism

The European Commission immediately banned all British milk, meat and livestock exports until the disease had been contained.

All 300 animals at the abattoir were slaughtered in an attempt to control the outbreak but the disease spread across the UK and over the next year more than 2,000 animals were diagnosed with foot-and-mouth.

The burning of animals on mass pyres became the vivid image of the 2001 outbreak.

Cumbria was the worst affected area with more than 800 cases.

To prevent the spread of the disease, public rights of way across the UK were closed.

Parts of the countryside were closed off to stop the disease spreading

The disease destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, while the Countryside Agency estimated the cost to tourism alone at between �2bn and �3bn.

The UK was declared free of foot-and-mouth disease in January 2002.

An inquiry into the outbreak - the Anderson Inquiry - made its report in July 2002, with its main recommendation being that the government needed a new "national strategy" to help contain any future animal health outbreak.

The report recognised ministers were facing a virtually unprecedented situation and had to make decisions under intense pressure.

Farmers received �1.34bn in compensation for livestock losses, but just �39m was given to the Business Recovery Fund aimed at rural businesses that suffered losses.

Since the last outbreak the government has suggested vaccination - which many farmers did not want in 2001 because of fears it would affect exports - would be considered as a method of fighting any future outbreak.