Testing time: The NFU has called for changes

The NFU report is expected to criticise the ease with which illegal meat was able to be imported into Britain and the speed with which the disease was able to spread.

The union is also expected to call for fines for airlines passengers caught smuggling meat from overseas.

Hugh Richards, President of the National Farmers' Union in Wales said: "We started looking at the fact that the disease or the cause of the disease - imported illegal meats - is still happening in this country and nothing has happened there.

"There were no contingency arrangements in place and the fact that (animal) movements were allowed to continue even days after the outbreak took place."

Sheep and cattle farmers faced ruin

The NFU is perhaps the union which worked most closely with government officials during the course of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Its report will be submitted to the independent inquiry into the crisis, led by Professor Iain Anderson.

In total, the crisis in Wales is estimated to have cost nearly �500m.