LONDON — More than a quarter of supposedly confirmed cases of foot-and-mouth in Britain tested negative in blood tests after the livestock had been killed, the government said as an independent report bolstered its claim that the epidemic is now under control.

        Though officials said it was possible that the livestock were at the stage of the disease where it would not show up in blood tests, the admission Thursday raised new questions about the government's hurried slaughter to control the disease.

        The Ministry of Agriculture said about 450 of 1,579 so-called confirmed cases of the livestock virus proved negative when blood was tested at the Institute for Animal Health laboratory in Pirbright, southern England.

        Of the 250 cases in which animals were slaughtered on “suspicion” of having the disease, only 46 — less than one-fifth — tested positive for the virus.

        The disclosure was likely to provoke anger among farmers whose livestock was culled, but the National Farmers' Union said Friday it wanted to examine the figures in more detail before passing judgment.

        More than 2.6 million animals have been slaughtered in a campaign to eradicate the highly infectious livestock disease.

        Veterinarians sent to farms looked for symptoms of the disease, such as blisters on the feet and mouth and an inability to walk or eat, when confirming cases.

        Livestock on infected farms were ordered killed. Animals on neighboring farms had to be killed within two days.

        “Speed of slaughter is crucial to successful control and eradication of the disease,” the agricultural ministry said. “Waiting for test results to come through before taking action would risk not bringing the outbreak under control.”

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Some healthy livestock killed