PETTING zoos and farm parks in Lincolnshire have welcomed the release of a new report that allows children to continue petting animals.

The independent inquiry looked into the outbreak of the E. coli associated with Godstone animal petting farm, in Surrey, last summer.

The outbreak led to 93 people, many of them children, being infected with disease.

It was feared the report, led by George Griffin, professor of infectious diseases and medicine at St George's, University of London, would call for a "no touching" rule for animals.

But the report criticised Godstone farm, saying the outbreak could have been avoided if measures had been taken to reduce the risk of infection.

Professor Griffin said: "This outbreak could very likely have been avoided if more attention had been given to preventing visitors being exposed to animal faecal matter."

He also criticised the Hygiene Protection Agency (HPA): "There was a lack of public health leadership by the HPA and a missed opportunity to exercise decisive public health action and thereby restrict the size of the outbreak."

Justin McCracken, Chief Executive of the HPA, said: "The report makes clear many factors contributed to this incident, including the fact that the HPA should have acted more quickly in this instance.

"HPA is very sorry for its part in what happened at Godstone."

Petting farms in Lincolnshire, with the support from the local councils, have already put procedures in place to minimize the risk to public safety.

Richard Waring, owner of Rand Farm Park, Lincoln, said: "Rand Farm Park attracts more than 100,000 visitors per year and is widely regarded as a valuable attraction and recreation experience.

"Clearly, the health and safety of visitors is paramount, we welcome the report but we have always provided hand-washing facilities and all visitors are reminded to wash their hands."

East Lindsey District Council's Commercial team leader, Mike Harrison said: "The council has a programme of regular inspections to petting zoos.

"Following the outbreak in Surrey, we added further inspections to this programme to ensure petting zoos in our district were complying with health regulations."

Chairman of the Community and Waste Service Committee at West Lindsey District Council, Jackie Brockway, said: "We have taken proactive steps to help minimise the risks of any outbreak.

We will be writing to all business operators in the area, which run petting farms to impress upon them the recommendations of this report."