A single case of mad cow disease has been confirmed on a farm in Essex.
The disease causes damage to the central nervous system in cows and eventually kills them.
The government said the cow was humanely put down and there was no risk to public health or food safety because it was not going to enter the food chain.
Mad cow disease, also known as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a non-contagious disease in cows which is different from ‘classical’ BSE, which is linked to contaminated feed.
Chief veterinary officer Christine Middlemiss said: ‘A single case of atypical BSE has been confirmed on a farm in Essex. The animal died on farm and was tested as part of our strict routine controls and surveillance regime.
‘A typical BSE is distinct from classical BSE and is a spontaneously and sporadically occurring, non-contagious disease which is believed to occur at a very low level in all cattle populations.
‘This is proof that our surveillance system for detecting and containing this type of disease is working.’
Dr James Cooper, deputy director of food policy at the Food Standards Agency, offered reassurance and said: ‘There is no food safety risk.
‘There are strict controls in place to protect consumers from the risk of BSE, including controls on animal feed, and removal of the parts of cattle most likely to carry BSE infectivity.
‘Consumers can be reassured that these important protection measures remain in place and that Food Standards Agency official veterinarians and meat hygiene inspectors working in all abattoirs in England will continue to ensure that the safety of consumers remains the top priority.’
Millions of cattle were culled in the UK in the 1990s during a BSE epidemic.
There was a peak of 100,000 confirmed cases in 1992/93 and it is estimated that around 180,000 cows were affected.
To try and stop the spread of the disease at the time, around 4.4 million cows were killed.
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