BSE controls final report, 20 December 2000, section 13, The controls: Milk
70. Milk for human consumption is allowed to be produced from cows (other than BSE suspects) regardless of age. Studies conducted so far have not revealed evidence of infection in milk. These have included infectivity studies in which mice were challenged by injection and feeding studies in which mice drank large volumes of milk collected from BSE cases51. Also, in one survey no cases of BSE were recorded in offspring that were suckled by BSE-affected dams for at least one month52. A new study is about to start in which evidence of prion protein will be sought by fractionation and immunoassay methods in milk collected throughout the lactation of cattle experimentally challenged with high and low doses of BSE.
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51 - Taylor DM et al, Absence of disease in mice receiving milk from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Veterinary Record 136, 592 (1995)
52 - Wilesmith JW et al, Absence of BSE in the offspring of pedigree suckler cows affected by BSE in Great Britain, Veterinary Record 141, 250-251 (1997)