BSE and goats

Since 2002, over one million goats have been tested across Europe to look for BSE without any further cases being found. Between February 2005 and July 2007 the European Commission greatly increased the testing of goats throughout Europe. During this period, 80% of goats aged over 18 months slaughtered in the UK were tested before they entered the food supply.

The TSE case in which BSE could not be excluded was not found through this testing but through research on the English goat herd, which was unusual in having a high level of classical scrapie.

Confirmatory testing for BSE in a goat can take two years or more, which is why it took until January 2005 to confirm BSE in the French goat that died in 2002. The possibility that the Scottish goat had BSE first came to light in 2005 when, following news of the French result, the VLA used new differential tests on historical samples from goats originally diagnosed with scrapie.

The Scottish case was born in 1987 before any TSE-related feed controls were in place and is most likely to have been exposed to BSE in feed. The French case and the 2008 case in which BSE could not be excluded were both born before 2001 when the use of potentially infective material in animal feed was effectively banned throughout the EU.

The UK ban on feeding potentially BSE infected feed to farmed animals is considered to have been effective from 1 August 1996, although some BSE cases in cattle have been born after that date. The UK ban was tightened when the EU-wide feed ban came into force in 2001. Few pre-1996 goats are likely to still be alive today.

All goats from herds in which BSE cannot be excluded must be killed and destroyed. No goat that shows signs of any brain disease such as BSE is permitted to enter the food supply. There are also specified risk material controls in place to remove some of the parts of a goat that could contain BSE infectivity, such as the brain and spinal cord. However, the current controls would not remove all of the possible infectivity.

No. Since 2004 when compulsory EU scrapie control measures were first implemented in infected herds, scrapie cases have been found in six UK goat herds. Most of the goats with scrapie found in the UK in recent years came from the one heavily-infected English goat herd with the TSE case in which BSE could not be excluded.

In addition, in more than 11,500 goats tested in the UK up to the end of June 2009 under the European testing programme for fallen stock or abattoir culls, eight cases of classical scrapie (0.07%) have been detected (with no cases of atypical scrapie).

In August 2008, Defra reported that initial tests could not exclude the possibility of BSE in a goat from an English herd that was unusual in having a high level of classical scrapie. The entire herd of over 1,800 goats was killed and destroyed because there had been more than 70 cases of classical scrapie in the previous 3 years. Samples from 200 of the killed goats were investigated by scientists from the VLA and 72 tested positive for a TSE. Classical scrapie was confirmed in all except one for which initial tests could not exclude BSE.

The European Community Reference Laboratory expert group reported in October 2008 that there was insufficient evidence to rule out the presence of BSE and recommended further tests to confirm a diagnosis. The VLA is currently undertaking these tests but it will be some years before the results are available.

On the basis of the current evidence, the Agency is not advising people to stop eating goat meat. The Agency will continue to keep people informed as information becomes available and, if necessary, update its advice. There is not yet any firm indication that BSE has been found in the current UK goat herd. The herd with the TSE case in which BSE could not be excluded was culled, so any potential risk to consumers from the herd has been removed.

As regards the Scottish goat in which BSE was confirmed in May 2009: the Agency's independent scientific advisers, SEAC (the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee), had previously observed that this was a historical case that could have been exposed to BSE-contaminated feed and that measures are in place to limit the spread of disease. They advised that any risk to human health was very low or negligible.

Goat meat is not widely eaten in the UK, although it is a traditional ingredient in African and Caribbean dishes and is also eaten by Muslims, so it is likely that these communities eat the most goat meat. About three quarters of the goat meat eaten in the UK is imported. In 2008 the majority of imported goat meat came from the Irish Republic and Spain, while over 9,000 goats were slaughtered in the UK.

The Agency is not advising people to stop eating goat products such as milk or cheese. Although there is experimental evidence of the presence of TSE infectivity in sheep milk (and it is presumed the same would apply to goat milk), the Agency considers that its advice remains valid while there is no firm indication that BSE may be present in the current UK goat herd. However, the Agency will keep this advice under review in the light of scientific developments and advice from SEAC. EU measures prevent milk from goat herds in which TSE is suspected from entering the food supply until the absence of BSE is confirmed.