Mad cow disease tests continue after Aberdeenshire discovery

Test is continuing after the discovery of a case of BSE – so-called mad cow disease – at a farm in Aberdeenshire.

Precautionary movement restrictions were introduced after the disease was found in a cow herd after it died in the Huntly area.

It is the first case of its kind in Scotland in a decade.

Scotland's Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas said it could be "months" before the investigation yielded final results.

However, she said that the discovery of the BSE case showed the industry's detection system was working.

Some other animals of the herd are also being destroyed as a precaution and tested.

• What you need to know about BSE

The case, involving a five-year-old animal, was identified before entering the human food chain.

The monitoring of BSE has been an important function since the crisis of 1986 when 180,000 cattle were infected and 4.4 million slaughtered in the United Kingdom.

There have been 16 cases in the UK since 2011, with the last in 2015 when farming officials confirmed a case of BSE in Carmarthenshire, Wales.

Ms Voas told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland program: "The animal itself is dead, it is being tested, and there are three other animals, which is probably a precautionary basis.

"We'll slaughter them, take brain stem samples and check them."

She said that the disease could occur "spontaneously" and that it was a case in point of view.

Ms Voas said: "Investigations are ongoing and it could be several months because of the nature of the disease before we are able to say with certainty.

"We do not have a lot of control over a lot of things." Back in the 90s there was a big problem with BSE again.

"Every animal that dies over 48 months is tested, we test something like 20,000 samples a year from Scotland, this one was picked up as a result of that, it's the first one that's been picked up since 2008.

A country is classed as 'negligible risk' 11 years after the birth of the last known case and that status was achieved in 2016.

'No reason to panic'

Ms Voas explained: "When we got 'negligible risk' status, which was a reflection of our very low levels of disease and controls we have in place, we were able to reduce some of the controls.

"From the point we've confirmed this (on Thursday), we have been here until 18 months ago

"We do not have final answers yet.

"All the information we have is under control, there is no reason for people to panic.

"It's not the start of an outbreak, it's a single case that will not affect the food chain."

Any farmer with concerns is advised to seek immediate veterinary advice.

Mad cow disease – as it is more widely known, because of the animals' erratic behavior and movements – destroying their brains by eating away the nerve tissue.