A large-scale blood-testing programme is under way in parts of North Yorkshire as the battle against foot and mouth disease continues.

But persistent rumours of a planned mass cull of animals after the General Election have again been strongly denied by MAFF officials.

News of the testing programme came as rumours resurfaced that a landfill site in the Easingwold area would be used to dispose of culled carcasses. Nearby farmers branded any such proposals as "madness".

John Coning, whose farm is just half a mile from the site, said: "We work as contractors, spreading fertiliser, silage and lime on other farms. If they brought this here, no one would touch us. It could mean the end."

At the same time, a North Yorkshire farmer claimed that Ministry staff knew that foot and mouth was on the way in early January - several weeks before the first case was announced and restrictions imposed on animal movements.

John Bywater, of Helperby, near Boroughbridge, alleged that a Ministry vet told him at Otley market that "something big was happening" and that he should not buy and take any animals home. He believed in retrospect that the vet must have been referring to foot and mouth.

But a Ministry spokeswoman bluntly dismissed the claims that staff knew about the outbreak in January, saying: "It's nonsense. I would take what he says with a pinch of salt.

"The Ministry had no idea there was foot and mouth until February 19, when it was detected at an Essex abattoir."

Graham Woods, MAFF spokesman, said there were "no plans, strategic or practical, for the widespread culling of animals."

"There have been bookings made in certain places for MAFF vets. But this is all part of the contingency plan, we are trying to keep ahead of the game. As such, a lot of blood testing is to be done."

The testing is currently under way in the Wensleydale and Swaledale areas of North Yorkshire, where MAFF teams are "two-thirds" of the way through testing a sample of 55,000 sheep.

Areas can be declared foot and mouth free 21 days after the testing is complete, providing the results are negative.

Updated: 11:00 Thursday, June 07, 2001