THE most serious outbreak of foot and mouth disease ever experienced in Britain was first reported just over a year ago. By common consent it came into this country from abroad, by the illegal importation of infected meat.

Last week two random raids on two individual flights were undertaken, one at Heathrow, the other at Gatwick.

Inspection of the luggage of passengers arriving at Heathrow revealed that there was 300 kilos of imported meat on that flight alone. That is a lot of Sunday lunches.

Unable to believe this figure a flight into Gatwick was inspected and 100 kilos of meat was discovered.

This is a shocking state of affairs.

Not only are the quantities of meat large, but the fact that there are people who want to eat dried rat bat, or even monkey meat comes as a surprise to those of us whose tastes are more conservative.

The sad part is that this was the first check undertaken in nine months. This is appalling in the circumstances, but nobody seems especially surprised.

There are various estimates as to the direct cost to the UK of the foot and mouth outbreak. The lowest one I have heard lately is £3 billion.

Installing a proper system for checking that illegal meat is not imported might be shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

But there are more horses in there, and we don't want the rest of them getting out. The cost of setting up an efficient system would be a fraction of the cost of eradication.

In some areas farming has been decimated by the outbreak. The whole nation has been affected.

More importantly, many jobs dependent on tourism have been widely threatened by the restrictions placed on access to the countryside. The adverse publicity has caused tourists to stay away in droves from the countryside and towns. Do those in charge of these things care?

Former Minster of Agriculture, Nick Brown, stated that even if illegal meat was imported it couldn't get into the feed of stock, because swill feeding has been banned.

Has he never seen animals in fields? It is not difficult to imagine that diseased meat, and only a tiny amount is needed, could be thrown, without thought for the consequences, into a field and an animal could eat the meat.

Another crisis would be on the hands of the UK taxpayer.

A friend of mine recently flew to Australia.

When he landed sniffer dogs detected a carrier bag in which he had placed two apples when he started his journey from Manchester.

He was not allowed to continue his journey until he had disposed of the bag.

Here we don't seem to be bothered. Or if we are, we haven't the will to do anything about it. Government agencies have fallen to squabbling as to where the responsibility for security at the ports and airports actually lies. They each claim that they do not have the authority to carry out the job efficiently, and, of course, that they do not have the resources.

What they actually lack, in my view, is the will. What the nation needs, and deserves, is one authority, properly resourced and with adequate powers, where those in charge know that they are responsible for ensuring no more illegal meats gets into this country.

Whatever Margaret Beckett believes, putting up a few notices is not going to work. We need proper enforcement, and we need it now.

Updated: 10:45 Tuesday, February 26, 2002