A single atypical case of BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease, has been found in a cow on a farm in Essex, officials have said.
The animal showed clinical signs of the disease and was humanely culled, the Animal and Plant Health Agency added.Because of this there is no risk to public health or food safety as the cow did not enter the food chain.
“There is no food safety risk. 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,” Dr James Cooper, Deputy Director of Food Policy at the Food Standards Agency said.
“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.”
Great Britain’s overall risk status for BSE remains at ‘controlled’ and there is no risk to food safety or public health, the government added.
What is BSE, also known as mad cow disease?
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes a cow's brains to become ‘spongy’ and full of holes.
It attacks the central nervous system of cows and symptoms typically include a lack of co-ordination and aggression.
These symptoms caused BSE to be known as mad cow disease.
Atypical BSE is naturally occurring and non-contagious, however classical BSE is spread via contaminated feed.
Can humans get BSE and what happens if they do?
Humans can get a variant of BSE, known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), if they consume BSE-infected meat.
The NHS says it can be hard to prevent because of its rarity but measures are in place to stop such meat from entering the food chain.
Guidelines have also been tightened around the use of medical equipment to prevent it from being passed through blood transfusions.
If a human does get CJD, there will have difficulty walking and have balance and co-ordination problems.
Their speech will be slurred, they will have numbness and pins and needles and suffer from dizziness.
The NHS also says they will have vision problems and some will suffer from anxiety and depression.
It is fatal in humans and there is no cure. Current treatment revolves around relieving the patient's symptoms.
What happened the last time there was an outbreak?
There were around 100,000-200,000 confirmed cases of mad cow disease in the early 1990s. In an effort to stop the disease spreading, millions of cattle were culled.
Sales of domestic beef plummeted, the cost dropped and British beef was banned in the EU until 2006.
It is thought the outbreak in the 1990s cost the UK economy between £740 million and £980 million
Two more cases were confirmed in 2015 and in 2020, 232 people are known to have become sick with vCJD. All have since died.
An inquiry concluded it was caused by cattle being fed the remains of other cattle.
Controls are currently in place to prevent BSE entering the food chain.
These include a ban on farm animals from being fed the remains of other animals and destroying animals that could be infected.
Mechanically recovered meat is also banned and all cattle over 30 months old are tested.
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