A £0.5m order to Germany has been put on hold and dairy firm Dale Farm claims milk exports worth £1m a day are under threat unless action is taken to distance the province from the foot-and-mouth outbreak in southern England.

Ulster's chief veterinary officer was locked in talks in Brussels today. Bert Houston met with his European counterparts to argue for changes to food labelling to reflect Ulster's special status.

Meanwhile, First Minister Ian Paisley tackled the Japanese ambassador in London over the country's decision to reject a pork shipment from Cookstown, and Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew has been in talks with the US administration to make it clear that Northern Ireland is free to export.

She said: "It's not entirely hard to understand that there would be some confusion. But it could be far, far worse. If we hadn't got this exemption, we would be really hard hit. We're up to our eyes making sure that people know there is a clear difference between us and the rest of the UK."

The Dublin Horse Show, which opens at the RDS today, and the Fermanagh Show, which launched last night, have put in place biosecurity measures.

Ulster MEP Jim Allister reacted with fury after Germany threatened to ban Ulster exports of dairy and pork, branding it a "disgraceful and unacceptable breach of the rules of the internal market by an EU member" .