This article explores the UK's lack of preparedness for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and the consequences for the 2001 outbreak. First, it utilises literature on crisis management and policy failure in order explore the problems caused by, and explanations for, lack of crisis preparedness. Second, it examines in detail a series of overlapping bureaucratic failures, particularly on the part of the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), which not only reduced the UK's capacity to cope with the epidemic, but also exacerbated it. These failures included cultural complacency, resource weaknesses, lack of contingency planning, delays in implementing EU legislation, confused priorities and a failure to learn from the previous major outbreak in 1967-68. Finally, it suggests that explanations for the UK's inadequate preparedness for FMD can be found at the individual, organisational and societal levels.
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