Twenty-six years after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, restrictive measures placed on lamb from Wales and the North of England have been lifted.

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Fallout from the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986 contaminated the land on 10,000 UK farms, including 334 in north Wales. Rainfall following the disaster contaminated the land in parts of the UK; radioactive matter, mainly caesium, was trapped in upland peat in parts of the country, which passed on to sheep grazing in the areas.

In the wake of the disaster, radiation levels of livestock had to be monitored before they could be sold; if they were too high, animals had to be moved to another location until the radiation levels subsided.

However, on Tuesday, following a twelve-week consultation, The Food Standards Agency announced that it will lift the restrictions from 1st June. FSA officials said the controls were not "proportionate" to the "very low risk" now presented by the contamination and removing them would not compromise the consumer.

Out of the 9,800 UK holdings initially affected, where 4 million sheep were placed under restriction, only 327 farms in north Wales and eight farms in Cumbria remain subject to 'mark and release' controls. Restrictions covering Northern Ireland were lifted in 2000 and Scottish measures were lifted in 2010.

Farming unions have welcomed the move; a spokesperson for the Farmers’ Union of Wales said that, with the FSA announcement, “The final level of bureaucracy has been lifted.”

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