Press Release: Case of BSE in a goat confirmed: Commission extends testing programme

A suspected case of BSE in a goat slaughtered in France in 2002 was confirmed by a panel of European scientists on 28 January 2005. The European Commission proposed to step up testing to determine if this was an isolated incident. Although this was the first time that BSE was found in a goat under natural conditions, precautionary measures to protect consumers from this eventuality had been applied in the EU for several years. The level of TSE infection in goats seems however to be extremely low and any possible risk to consumers is minimal. The European Commission asked the French authorities to submit their preliminary findings to the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for TSEs based in Weybridge, UK. TSEs are transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, namely BSE affecting cattle and scrapie affecting goats and sheep.

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European Commission: DG Health and Consumer Protection: Overview: Food and Feed SafetyBSE/Scrapie: TSE Community reference laboratory http://ec.europa.eu/comm/food/food/biosafety/bse/crl_statement_tse_goats_28-01-05_en.pdf

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