Mad Cow Disease Is Back - When Are We Going to Learn?
- The Young Vegan
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
Mad cow disease is back in the UK. This shouldn't be treated as a freak event. It should be treated as a warning.
It is a fact that farming animals creates the perfect storm for disease outbreaks. Animals are kept confined in crowded spaces. They have limited access to fresh air, quite often none. The animals are bred to grow as quickly as possible to speed up the process of getting them to slaughter. They are fed processed diets of foods they wouldn't naturally eat as part of the method. This leaves animals with weakened immune systems and no ability to manage illness as they would in nature. Behaviours like mud or dust bathing, taking themselves away from other animals or eating plants that have medicinal properties are impossible. Humans manage this by keeping these creatures on a steady feed of antibiotics.
This use, overuse, of antibiotics has caused a huge increase in the amount of drug-resistant bacteria that animals are exposed to. Not only this, but because most of these drugs pass through the animal's body unchanged, they go on to contaminate the water and soil, becoming part of our food and water systems. The obvious consequence is that humans are now falling victim to drug-resistant bacteria. According to the paper Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050, published in The Lancet,1.14 million people died from infection with drug-resistant bacteria. This is predicted to increase to 46.5 million people in 2050.
Mad Cow Disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, isn't caused by bacteria and so, in spite of the routine use of antibiotics, farmers cannot control this disease with drugs. BSE is an incurable and always fatal disease that affects the brains of cows. It can develop spontaneously, but is most commonly caused by animals eating the meat-and-bone meal of infected animals. The disease is caused by a protein that is folded the wrong way, a prion. This misfolded protein builds up in the brain of animals, leading to disease and death. These prions cannot be destroyed by cooking or heat treatment under normal food preparation pressures, such as those used to make processed foods. The result is that other animals and humans can become infected. In humans, the disease is Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD). The symptoms start with behavioural changes and feelings of physical pain, and later develop into poor coordination and dementia.
Mad Cow Disease is Back
BSE isn't new to the UK; more than 184,000 cows died from the disease between 1986 and 2015, and more than 4 million animals were slaughtered to stop the spread.
This latest outbreak was found on a farm in Dumfries and Galloway as a result of regular BSE surveillance and control measures. No infected meat had been sold, and it is believed that there is no risk to humans.
Scotland's agriculture minister, Jim Fairlie, said authorities had "acted swiftly and decisively to protect the agriculture sector". Sky News
This story is being treated as a success. It was caught quickly. Affected animals were swiftly killed. Infected feed was destroyed. The cause of this, the fundamental root and the wrongness of the situation are not acknowledged.
Artificial diets have already taught us a hard lesson
The history of mad cow disease shows what happens when farming pushes nature too far.
Cattle are grazing animals. Yet farming practices include feeding cattle processed remains from other animals. This practice helps spread the disease in the cattle population and then passes it on to humans. The long incubation period and slow development of the disease mean that it is often not identified in humans for many years. The last, large-scale outbreak peaked in 1993 with roughly 1000 cases being found per week, resulting from cattle feed contaminated with infected animal remains. The outbreak caused the UK to change the rules around testing, bans and improved controls.
But the deeper lesson was still being ignored.
The problem was not only one bad feed practice. The problem was the belief that animals can be pushed into any system that serves the profits and appetites of humans. Turn grazing animals into feed-conversion units. Keep them in tightly controlled supply chains. Move them through markets. Slaughter them at scale. Then act surprised when disease moves too.
A single case today may not mean a large outbreak, but it shows that animal farming carries risks that never fully vanish.
Confinement Helps Disease Spread
Disease spreads more easily when many animals are kept close together.
This is basic. Crowded bodies mean more contact. The animals share air, waste and bedding, while stress weakens them physically and mentally. Repeated handling increases risk. Fast growth and high-production systems strain their immune systems.
These animals do not cause the system. They pay for it.
Human Illness Often Begins with Animal-Use
Many human diseases have links to animals. A disease that passes from animals to humans is called a zoonosis. Some come from wildlife disturbed by human activity. Some come from farmed animals. Some move through both.
This does not mean every cold or flu case came directly from a farm, although these illnesses originated from humans using animals and keeping close contact with them. Influenza viruses circulate in birds and pigs. New strains emerge when viruses mix and move between species. That is why bird flu matters. That is why pig farms matter. The common cold is caused by several kinds of viruses, and some human viruses have ancient animal origins. The wider point is simple: human health is not separate from animal health.
When humans pack animals into sheds, ship them long distances, breed them intensely, and kill them in large numbers, we create more chances for pathogens to adapt and spread.
Food poisoning is another clear example.
Animal products can carry bacteria that make people ill. Raw or undercooked meat, eggs and dairy can expose people to harmful microbes. In July 2026, Graham's Dairy had to recall milk products due to contamination with veterinary products, including penicillin, used to control disease on the farm. Cross-contamination in kitchens can spread them to other foods. The public is told to cook meat properly, wash hands, clean surfaces and avoid raw milk for a reason.
Those instructions are not random. They exist because animal products carry known risks, some of which can't be completely removed.
Plant foods can also be contaminated. As the ongoing outbreak of Cyclospora Illness across America shows us. As of 20/08/2026, 10,930 people have been made ill, and 2 have died. Cyclospora is a protozoan found in faeces and water. No food system is risk-free. But animal farming adds a heavy layer of danger because it involves raising animals in conditions where waste, blood, stress, transport and slaughter are part of the process.
Better rules are not enough
After every scare, the same answer appears.
Tighter controls. Better testing. More checks. New guidance. Stronger tracing.
These steps can reduce harm. But regulation does not change the core problem. It only manages it. A more regulated slaughterhouse is still a slaughterhouse. A cleaner shed is still confinement. A better transport rule still moves frightened animals to death. A safer feed rule still supports an industry built on breeding and killing.
The question is not how to make animal farming less dangerous; it's why are we still accepting the danger at all?
We now have more plant-based foods than ever. Beans, lentils, peas, grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit can feed people without breeding animals for slaughter. Plant-based milks, meats and ready meals are widely available in UK shops. The direction is clear.
A vegan future would reduce suffering at the source
A vegan future would not make the world perfect. But it would remove a huge cause of suffering. It would also shift the moral centre of food.
Animals are not ingredients waiting to happen. They are conscious beings with their own lives. A cow does not need to be useful to deserve safety. A pig does not need to be clever to deserve mercy. A chicken does not need to be cute to deserve freedom from harm.
The case for veganism is not only about health or climate. It is about refusing to turn beings into products.
The Lessons are Clear
The return of this disease to the headlines is not just a food safety story. It is a moral story. It is a public health story. It is a warning about control without respect.
The lessons are plain.
Stop treating animals as production units.
Stop pretending disease risk is a rare accident.
Stop hiding the real cost of meat, milk and eggs.
Support farmers to move away from animal agriculture.
Make plant-based food normal, affordable and easy to choose.
Teach food systems honestly, including slaughter and disease risk.
A vegan food system would spare animals from lives of confinement and death. It would reduce many risks that come from farming animals in the first place. It would align food with compassion instead of violence.
That is the lesson. We should learn it now, not after the next crisis.
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