Cattle can only move onto a TB restricted farm prior to the completion of a veterinary risk assessment and completion of a TB test, carried out 60 days after an infected animal has left the farm.
Last year it said it would scale up its treatment of drug-resistant TB and eventually test all TB patients for resistance at their initial diagnosis.
However, vaccination of cattle against TB is currently prohibited by EU legislation, mainly because BCG vaccination of cattle can interfere with the tuberculin skin test, the main diagnostic test for TB.
Both infected and vaccinated animals appear to test positive for TB so scientists are now looking at the the DIVA test (Differentiate Infected from Vaccinated Animals) as a way of telling the difference.
The study came from pilot-testing of a new, faster test for TB.
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Now newly diagnosed patients are tested for resistance if they continue to test positive for TB after two months of the regular treatment, or if they have been treated before for TB and are now sick again.
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Not only does the new test enable the TB bacteria to be identified more quickly, it allows doctors to add various drugs to the liquid media in which the sample is grown to determine which would be of benefit in tackling the infection.
Cattle can be vaccinated and their products consumed locally using a test that can tell between TB infection and vaccination, although the products cannot be exported to either the EU or the US, according to officials.
The reason for the ban is the skin test currently used to identify cattle with TB cannot tell the difference between infected animals and those vaccinated with BCG.
Paul Sommerfeld, of the charity TB Alert, told the BBC News website he was "very excited" by the test, but that more finance was needed to develop it further.
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