A VICAR believes the country would do well to interpret the crisis as a judgement on society.

Tony Shepherd, of St Peter's Church, Harrogate, North Yorkshire - a former aide to the Bishop of Ripon - said: "We have found it more convenient to shop in supermarkets and have become beguiled with fast and easy popular food.

"Supermarkets have put pressures on farmers for fast turnovers and standardised products, all at cheap prices."

Farmers had reacted with factory farming, abuse of chemical spraying, intensive methods and also experiments with genetically-modified crops.

"I think many of us have been shocked, as the epidemic unfolded, to learn how far animals have been transported to abattoirs - and the kind of treatment they have received, which reduces their dignity and ours," said Mr Shepherd.

He believed that the time had come to take stock of the way that food was produced and supplied.

Mr Shepherd was writing in the latest issue of the church magazine.