A case of classical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a cow on a farm in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
The Scottish Government announced the case on Wednesday, saying precautionary movement restrictions had been imposed on the affected cow’s offspring and other cattle that had been in the same group. Investigations are underway to determine the source of the disease.
The case was detected through Scotland’s routine BSE surveillance system. Authorities said the affected animal did not enter the human food chain, while Food Standards Scotland confirmed there was no risk to human health from the isolated case.
The affected cattle, including offspring and cohort animals, have been traced and isolated and will be destroyed in line with legal requirements, the government said.
Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie said the swift detection demonstrated that Scotland’s surveillance system was working effectively. He also thanked the animal’s owner for promptly reporting the case.
BSE is a fatal disease that affects the brain and nervous system of cattle. Scotland maintains strict controls to protect consumers, including the removal of specified risk materials such as the brain, skull, and spinal cord from cattle carcasses intended for human consumption.
The UK experienced a major BSE outbreak during the 1980s and 1990s, leading to the slaughter of millions of cattle and more than 170 human deaths from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
