Special labelling will be placed on Northern Ireland exports in an attempt to limit the fall out from the foot and mouth outbreak in Surrey, the Agriculture Minister said today.
Michelle Gildernew said the European Commission had decided to allow exports from the North to other countries to continue.
She was speaking after taking precautionary steps including banning live animal imports from Great Britain after the disease alert was raised this morning.
"My officials have worked closely with Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials who were attending a...meeting in Brussels and were able to influence the Commission decision on foot and mouth which has just been unanimously agreed and again recognises the unique position of the north and allows us to continue to export products to other countries."
The special labelling will highlight Northern Ireland's disease-free status and help to prevent large orders of dairy and meat products from being rebuffed by countries around the world during the original alert last month.
The minister added that livestock, including cattle and sheep, would be covered by restrictions on imports until Great Britain was declared safe again.
A total of 72 consignments of live animals shipped to Northern Ireland since the restrictions on movement were lifted on August 23 are being inspected. She has already returned one shipment before the outbreak was confirmed this afternoon.
Export licenses have been withdrawn for live animals and non-pasteurised dairy products and disinfectant mats placed at airports and ports.
The minister said local experts were examining the recent arrival. "All those inspections will be carried out by tomorrow, we have put the Fortress Ireland approach back into place," she said.
"We have been very decisive in our actions that we have taken in order to try to keep foot and mouth out. The steps I took were from a pre-emptive and precautionary point of view. We
took them before there was confirmation of the outbreak."
She said she had consulted with senior colleagues, held meetings with Irish counterpart Mary Coughlan and Johnathan Shaw from England's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
She also briefed the First and Deputy First Ministers the reverend Iain Paisley and Martin McGuinness this afternoon.
She is due to raise the matter at the ministerial Executive gathering in Belfast tomorrow and the Assembly's agriculture committee is holding an emergency session tomorrow.
Joe McDonald, from the Ulster Farmers' Union, said the confirmed case was a setback.
"We need to ensure that...we retain our foot and mouth disease-free status because that is crucial to ensuring that we don't bring it into Northern Ireland and that we keep our trade open with our export market," he said.
Ministers have spent weeks assuring consumers that local meat and dairy products are safe.
Despite similar exemptions to those announced today to the EU-wide ban on exports from Great Britain, shipments to Japan and Venezuela worth huge sums of money were threatened.
PA