The BSE-infected goat and its herd were disposed of in accordance with EU rules and did not enter either the food or feed chain, and therefore do not represent a risk to public health, says the EC.

This is the first time that BSE has been found in a goat under natural conditions.

Further Testing Proposed

"I want to reassure consumers that existing safety measures in the EU offer a very high level of protection," says Markos Kyprianou, EU Commissioner responsible for Health and Consumer Protection, in a statement.

"This case was discovered thanks to the EU testing system in place in France. The testing programme has shown us that there is a very low incidence rate of TSEs (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) in goats and allowed us to detect suspect animals so that they can be taken out of the food chain, as was done with this goat and its entire herd. I am proposing to extend testing further to determine whether this is an isolated incident," Kyprianou says.

Did Not Enter Food Chain

The infected goat was born in March 2000 and slaughtered in France in October 2002, the European Commission reports. The results are only now becoming available as the series of confirmatory tests included testing on mice (a so-called "mouse bioassay"), which takes two years to complete.

The goat and its herd were disposed of in accordance with EU rules and did not enter either the food or feed chain, and therefore do not represent a risk to public health, says the EC. This goat was detected as part of the EU-wide surveillance program designed to detect suspicious TSE strains in small ruminants, and was the only one in its herd of 300 goats to develop BSE. Over 140,000 goats have been tested across Europe since April 2002.

Safety Precautions in Place

Milk and meat from goats affected by TSE cannot be used under current rules that were put into effect prior to the latest discovery, and the conditions that existed when the affected goat was born in 2000 no longer exist, European authorities note.

Feeding meat-and-bone meal (MBM) to ruminants is generally believed to be the route of transmission of BSE. A total ban against feeding MBM to all farm animals was imposed in January 2001. Because goats in the EU typically live only for a few years, it is clear that most of the goats alive today were born after the restriction became effective.

No Changes Advised

The European Food Safety Authority has advised that based on current scientific knowledge, goat milk and derived products are unlikely to present any risk of TSE contamination if the milk comes from healthy animals.

As for cattle and sheep, specified risk materials (the tissues most likely to carry infectivity if the disease is present) are also removed from all goats even if there is no infection detected, says the EC. While it is not possible to say that there is absolutely no risk, any potential risk will be mitigated by the safety measures put in place.

In light of the above, the European Commission says, no change in current consumption of goat milk, cheese and meat are warranted.