Burning carcasses on mass pyres became a regular sight in 2001
The outbreak saw about seven million animals slaughtered and devastation for many farms and rural businesses.
The crisis is estimated to have cost the country up to £8bn.
Ministers were criticised for failing to prepare properly for an outbreak on that scale and for not halting the spread of the disease quickly enough.
It was the first major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since 1967, when 442,000 animals were slaughtered.
The first case in the 2001 outbreak was at an abattoir in Brentwood, Essex, in February of that year.
Impact on tourism
The European Commission immediately banned all British milk, meat and livestock exports until the disease had been contained.
All 300 animals at the abattoir were slaughtered in an attempt to control the outbreak but the disease spread across the UK and over the next year more than 2,000 animals were diagnosed with foot-and-mouth.
The burning of animals on mass pyres became the vivid image of the 2001 outbreak.
Cumbria was the worst affected area with more than 800 cases.
To prevent the spread of the disease, public rights of way across the UK were closed.
Parts of the countryside were closed off to stop the disease spreading
The disease destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, while the Countryside Agency estimated the cost to tourism alone at between £2bn and £3bn.
The UK was declared free of foot-and-mouth disease in January 2002.
An inquiry into the outbreak - the Anderson Inquiry - made its report in July 2002, with its main recommendation being that the government needed a new "national strategy" to help contain any future animal health outbreak.
The report recognised ministers were facing a virtually unprecedented situation and had to make decisions under intense pressure.
Farmers received £1.34bn in compensation for livestock losses, but just £39m was given to the Business Recovery Fund aimed at rural businesses that suffered losses.
Since the last outbreak the government has suggested vaccination - which many farmers did not want in 2001 because of fears it would affect exports - would be considered as a method of fighting any future outbreak.
A report released tonight by the Health and Safety Executive has confirmed that there is a "strong possibility" that the cause of the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak is contamination, most probably by human movement, from a nearby research facility in Guildford, Surrey, UK.
The field in which the first infected cattle were grazing prior to testing positive for foot-and-mouth disease. 
The labs in Pirbright, where both private firm Merial and the governmental Institute for Animal Health operate, have been subject to ongoing investigations since the discovery of a new foot-and-mouth outbreak on Friday. The strain of the disease had already been identified as an O1 BFS67-like virus, which was isolated in a 1967 outbreak and was being used at the labs for research and the production of vaccines. It is not yet known whether the virus escaped from the Merial or the IAH lab.

Since foot-and-mouth was confirmed in cows at a Surrey farm, more than 200 cattle have been culled as a preventative measure. A protection zone has been set up around the affected areas and rules preventing the movement of livestock have been introduced throughout the country, with the aim of stopping further spread of the contagious disease. Restrictions on the import of English beef have already been imposed.

The last outbreak of foot-and-mouth in the UK, in the spring and summer of 2001, resulted in total losses estimated at £8bn. Seven million animals were slaughtered, and tourism was also badly hit.