An investigation has been launched after a case of "mad cow disease" was identified in a dead cow on a farm in Wales.
Authorities were quick to announce that there was no risk to human health, as it was an isolated case and the animal had not entered the human food chain.
"Identification of this case demonstrates that the controls we have in place are working well," said Rebecca Evans, Deputy Minister for Farming and Food.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Investigators will now try and determine what caused the infection. Any cows the animal came into contact with, plus any offspring, will be traced and destroyed, reports The Guardian.
Despite government reassurances, opposition politicians warned that this would be a blow to the regional beef industry and called on the Welsh government to make sure farmers were supported.
"This is, of course, very disappointing news," said William Powell, Welsh Liberal Democrat shadow farming minister and assembly member for Mid and West Wales.
"However, I can't emphasise enough that we have immensely robust control measures in place to detect and prevent any infected produce from entering the food chain," he said.
Mad cow disease, officially known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), caused national panic in the late 1980s and early 1990s when it was linked to a deadly disease that causes brain damage in humans. At least 170 people have died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and millions of animals were slaughtered.
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump lambasts crime, but his administration is cutting gun violence preventionThe Explainer The DOJ has canceled at least $500 million in public safety grants
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Home Office worker accused of spiking mistress’s drink with abortion drugSpeed Read Darren Burke had failed to convince his girlfriend to terminate pregnancy
-
In hock to Moscow: exploring Germany’s woeful energy policySpeed Read Don’t expect Berlin to wean itself off Russian gas any time soon
-
Were Covid restrictions dropped too soon?Speed Read ‘Living with Covid’ is already proving problematic – just look at the travel chaos this week
-
Inclusive Britain: a new strategy for tackling racism in the UKSpeed Read Government has revealed action plan setting out 74 steps that ministers will take
-
Sandy Hook families vs. Remington: a small victory over the gunmakersSpeed Read Last week the families settled a lawsuit for $73m against the manufacturer
-
Farmers vs. walkers: the battle over ‘Britain’s green and pleasant land’Speed Read Updated Countryside Code tells farmers: ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’
-
Motherhood: why are we putting it off?Speed Read Stats show around 50% of women in England and Wales now don’t have children by 30
-
Anti-Semitism in America: a case of double standards?Speed Read Officials were strikingly reluctant to link Texas synagogue attack to anti-Semitism
