More than a million animals were slaughtered in Wales in the outbreak

Welsh assembly officials and veterinary experts are working with their counterparts in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the exercise recommended by a number of inquiries into the farming crisis.

The foot-and-mouth crisis cost the farming industry �3bn in disease control and saw more than six million animals destroyed - more than a million in Wales - after it hit in 2001.

Critics of the way the outbreak was handled argue a more coordinated approach could have stemmed the spread of the virus, which cost more than �100m to eradicate from Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government published its new-look contingency plan in April this year.

The exercise will test how officials respond to a foot-and-mouth scenario

Tuesday's exercise will assess how communication and management systems work in an outbreak scenario.

Carwyn Jones, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside, said: "Having effective contingency plans in place was a recommendation of several independent inquiries into foot-and-mouth, and it is also a requirement of the European Union.

"Effectiveness has to be tested and this exercise will be part of the testing programme.

"As part of the exercise stakeholders and partners will work together on dealing with predictable and unpredictable events.

New bio-security rules

"Similar exercises have taken place or will take place elsewhere in the UK to ensure contingency plans are fully tested.

"Further exercises will also take place in Wales."

Strict new bio-security regulations have been introduced for farms, livestock markets and the animal transport industry as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.