The Bolivian government has ordered the nation's farmers to stop exporting meat to its Andean neighbors after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the east of the country, according to news reaching here on Sunday.

It was the first such outbreak in three and a half years.

"Sadly, and automatically, all permits to sell these products outside Bolivia are now suspended," said Ernesto Salas, head of the animal health unit of Bolivia's National Agricultural Health and Food Hygiene Service.

The outbreak was spotted on Thursday in Cuatro Canadas, a town in the eastern department of Santa Cruz. On Friday, Bolivia ordered the suspension of meat and milk products to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

Salas said that authorities will work with neighboring nations' animal health authorities to prevent the spread of the disease. The nation has also suspended its claim with the France-based International Animal Health Organization to be declared free of the disease.

Source: Xinhua