Mad cow disease has returned to the Netherlands for the first time since 2011

The Dutch government announced on Wednesday that a cow that recently died on a Dutch farm had mad cow disease, a rare case of the cattle disease that can cause a fatal brain disease in people who eat contaminated beef.

Dutch Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said in a letter to lawmakers that the farm where the cow died had been closed.

He added that the infected animal did not enter the food chain and does not pose a threat to food safety.

Mad cow disease appeared for the first time in the late eighties among cattle in Britain, and over the years 4.5 million heads of cattle were slaughtered to contain the spread of the disease, and the last case was discovered in the Netherlands in 2011.

The food safety authorities are conducting an investigation to trace any offspring of the dead animal, as well as cows that ate the same feed or grew up with it, and the ministry said it will be euthanized.

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