BSE identified in dead cow on Dutch farm

A case of BSE, or 'mad cow disease', has been discovered in a dead cow on a farm in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has confirmed.

The farm where the animal died has been sealed off, the country's farming minister Piet Adema said on Wednesday (1 February).

He explained that the infected cow “did not get into the food chain and does not constitute a risk to food safety.”

The location of the farm was not disclosed by the government, however local media report that it is located in the province of South Holland.

The last case of the cattle disease detected in the Netherlands was in 2011.

In the UK, the last case of BSE was confirmed on a farm in Somerset, in 2021.

There have been a handful of cases of BSE in the UK since 2014, all of these had been in animals which, as fallen stock, were not destined for the food chain.

In the 1990s, millions of cattle were culled across the country during a BSE epidemic.