LONDON, England (CNN) -- International bans were slapped on British farming exports Monday as the country scrambled to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, halting work at a vaccine lab suspected to be the source of the infection.

The European Union said it would restrict all live animals, fresh meat and milk products from mainland Great Britain in the wake of the outbreak at an English farm west of London.

A day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed that the government would do everything in its power to halt the new outbreak, the vaccine lab at Pirbright, south west of London, under investigation over the infection said it had suspended production.

"On Saturday night, we took the voluntary decision to suspend all production here at our Pirbright center," said David Biland, managing director for pharmaceutical company Merial Animal Health.

Biland said internal investigations showed no breach in procedures.

Announcing its ban, EU Commission spokesman Philip Tod declared all of Britain except Northern Ireland as a "high-risk area," but also praised the country's government for taking swift action.

"We welcome the speed with which the British authorities have confirmed the strain of the virus which is being dealt with and will await the results of their investigation into the possible origins of the outbreak," Tod said.

Over the weekend, the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said the strain of the virus identified in the new farm outbreak was the same as one produced at the Pirbright laboratories a few miles away.

The Pirbright site is home to Merial Animal Health and the government-run Institute for Animal Health (IAH), which both use that strain of the foot and mouth virus for research and to develop vaccines.

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