A FRENCH goat has been confirmed as the first food animal other than a cow to catch BSE. The finding deepens fears that the disease is lurking undetected in European sheep, which are farmed in a similar way.
The goat may have developed the disease before the European Union banned potentially infected feed in 2001. Unlike cattle, sheep and goats are thought to be able to transmit BSE to each other, and this would keep the disease circulating despite the feed ban. Also unlike cattle, both species carry the infection in muscle, making their meat potentially more dangerous.
There are…
