Milk producers in Cheshire in the north west of England were on red alert last night after the discovery of the foot and mouth virus on a farm in neighbouring Lancashire.

Cheshire is home to the majority of England’s largest milk producers and, were the disease to reach the region, it could take hundreds of thousands of litres of milk out of the UK supply chain.

Mark Beavon, director at Cheshire-based cheesemaker Joseph Heler, which also runs a dairy farm, said producers in the area had implemented precautionary measures early on in the crisis and were remaining vigilant.