Defra has introduced stricter controls on bringing pork products into the UK in a bid to prevent an outbreak of African swine fever - Credit: James Bass

The government is clamping down on overseas travellers bringing pork into the country to protect East Anglia's pig industry from African swine fever (ASF).

The move will prevent people bringing more than 2kg of pork or pork products into Britain from Europe unless they have been produced to EU commercial standards.

The new controls do not apply to commercial imports, after a risk assessment found the most likely way the devastating pig disease could be introduced to Britain is by a member of the public bringing infected pork back from an affected country in their luggage or vehicle.

The new rules were welcomed by the pig sector, which is a significant part of East Anglia's farming economy, with an estimated 20pc of the national herd kept in Norfolk and Suffolk.

And the British Meat Processors Association said it will address the "worrying increase" in small vanloads of meat coming from ASF areas without border checks.

Officials said although ASF poses no risk to human health it is a highly-contagious disease for pigs and wild boar, which has been spreading in mainland Europe in recent months.

Deputy chief veterinary officer Richard Irvine said if it reached the UK it would have a "severe and damaging impact" on the pork industry and "threaten the livelihoods of thousands of our pig farmers".

Biosecurity minister Lord Richard Benyon said: "An outbreak of African swine fever is one of the biggest threats our pig industry faces today.

"We are not complacent and this decisive and proportionate action will stop the entry of pork products that pose the greatest risk.

"It is essential we maintain the highest levels of biosecurity and all visitors to the UK will need to abide by these new regulations."

The National Pig Association's senior policy adviser Rebecca Veale welcomed the government's action to "significantly strengthen the protection of our borders".

"Notifiable diseases such as ASF not only compromise the health and welfare of the pigs and potentially devastate businesses up and down the country, but an outbreak would also have huge implications for our ability to trade," she said.

"The risk of ASF has never been so great and the recent outbreaks linked to human movement in Italy and Germany have served as a stark reminder of just how vulnerable we are.

"Producers do their very best to maintain high levels of biosecurity for their individual herds, and the new controls now recognise the importance of national biosecurity to complement this."