‘Mad cow disease' detected on farm

Telegraph

20-05-2025

A case of 'mad cow disease' has been found on a farm in Essex in the first case to be found in the UK this year.
The animal was killed and tested by officials at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) who confirmed the cow had an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
This case is the first to be identified in the UK since December 2024 when another atypical BSE case was found in Scotland. It is the fourth such case in the last decade.
An outbreak of BSE, also known as 'mad cow disease', led to millions of cattle being culled in the UK in the 1990s to prevent spread of the pathogen.
Humans that eat meat from infected animals can contract the fatal brain condition Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) and 178 people in the UK died of the condition after eating tainted beef during the outbreak.
Poses no risk
This latest case was found to be 'atypical BSE' and is not contagious and poses no risk to other animals or the food chain, officials said.
This version of the disease occurs naturally and spontaneously on occasion and is not linked to contaminated feed, as opposed to the other form of BSE.
'A single case of atypical BSE has been confirmed on a farm in Essex. The animal died on farm and was tested as part of our strict routine controls and surveillance regime,' said Christine Middlemiss, the UK's Chief Veterinary Officer.
'Atypical BSE is distinct from classical BSE and is a spontaneously and sporadically occurring, non-contagious disease which is believed to occur at a very low level in all cattle populations.
'This is proof that our surveillance system for detecting and containing this type of disease is working.'
'Consumers can be reassured'
Food safety experts insist there is no threat to food in the UK from the case.
'There is no food safety risk,' said Dr James Cooper, deputy director of food policy at the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
'There are strict controls in place to protect consumers from the risk of BSE, including controls on animal feed, and removal of the parts of cattle most likely to carry BSE infectivity.
'Consumers can be reassured that these important protection measures remain in place and that Food Standards Agency official veterinarians and meat hygiene inspectors working in all abattoirs in England will continue to ensure that the safety of consumers remains the top priority.'