Ironically, British beef is now probably the safest in Europe because of all the stringent regulations now in place. <BR>I'd avoid burgers, cheap sausages, pies etc. but good cuts of beef, steaks etc. should be fine.

If you have read the research and can intepret the statistics you will be far far more worried about being run over than about British beef today. I live in England, work in the health service and know absolutely no one at all who does not eat meat on this basis nowadays. Indeed I only ever read about it on sites like this. Clearly however there are many vegetarians in England and should you feel you would enjoy your trip more in absence of even the remotest risk this will not be a problem. If your children like pasta and pizza there will be no problem ! Enjoy England whatever your choices.

The post from Hans was appreciated. My understanding about Mad Cow Disease/ BSE/ scrapies is that these are NOT caused by a virus or a bacteria, but rather, when genetic material from another mammal is ingested by an individual who is him- or herself genetically predisposed to having his or her own DNA mutate if they eat mammal flesh. <BR> <BR>I believe the reason health professionals are so worried about BSE is that medical science has never confronted quite this type of disease before, and there's no way to know how far it will spread, or whether it could begin to affect other types of food. <BR> <BR>I believe the folks in Britain who got sick had a genetic predisposition for BSE. Can anyone confirm this, and state whether there is a reliable test to see if you are suseptible? <BR> <BR>I live in the eastern U.S. and am eating as much beef as I can stand, until Mad Cow reaches the U.S., at which point I will stop eating beef completely.

Sensible people are sticking to quality cuts from hillfed Scottish & Irish cattle, avoiding pies, burgers & beef mixtures which may have nerve tissue. <BR> Beef on the bone is contentious.If you simply have a Scots/Irish steak with no bone its safe. <BR> The overall risk looks very low but nobody really knows due to the very long incubation - the experts disagree. <BR> The UK has the most rigorous inspection in the world.Last week a consignment of German beef was sent back when pieces of spinal cord were found in it. <BR> If are are worried, just don't eat beef - you don't need it. <BR> Veal should be OK - BSE takes a long time to develop.All UK beef is now less than 18 months old.Don't take too much notice of stats from various countries - whether you find BSE depends partly on whether you look. <BR> Looks like the EC states may be leaving the head-in-the-sand stage where they limit imports & pretend its nothing to do with them, and are starting to realise that everybody has to regulate & inspect.(& stop feeding cattle on infected sheeps brains - the cause of BSE)

Just to say, Jane has got it spot on. <BR> <BR>You should be far far more worried about being run over than catching CJD. The vast majority of Brits (except vegetarians) are still eating beef.