Goat BSE case raises awareness

REPERCUSSIONS are likely for the owners of Ireland’s goat population, estimated at about 17,000 head, following the announcement that a goat slaughtered in France in 2002 was infected with BSE.

It was the first sign that the disease can cross over to other species used for human consumption. The European Commission said there is minimal risk to humans from goat’s meat, cheese or milk.

Goats had already been infected with BSE in laboratories, the French case was the first naturally occurring one. The infected goat’s 300 herd mates were destroyed as a precaution, and no trace of BSE was found in them.