Farmers from Oxfordshire are lobbying for a "level playing field" across Europe on guidelines governing food production.

James Elles, Euro MP for South East England, has met National Farmers' Union members at Thame Town Hall.

Discussions were dominated by the foot and mouth crisis and fears that checks on meat production on the Continent may not be as rigorous as in the UK.

Matt Ware, NFU policy adviser for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, said: "We were asking for a level playing field at abattoirs so they are as safe as ours."

Farmers also want meat labelled so consumers can tell which country it was produced in.

Mr Elles asked the farmers to supply a question for him to put to the European Commission about the quality of meat imports and controls in place on substances such as spinal cord going into the food chain.