Could people safely eat the meat of vaccinated animals and drink their milk?
Yes. Foot-and-mouth disease is not a risk to human health. In many other countries meat and milk from vaccinated animals are routinely consumed. The Food Standards Agency says: “Millions of doses of vaccine have been given world-wide with no adverse effects on human health. Foot-and-mouth disease vaccines are widely used throughout the developing world in parts of Africa, South America and Central America. If people go abroad on holiday to countries where the vaccine is routinely used and eat meat, that meat has probably been vaccinated and has never been shown to cause any human health problems. In mainland Europe (including the Netherlands, France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Switzerland), people were drinking milk and eating meat from animals vaccinated against the disease up until 1991.” The FSA told BBC News Online: “There is no evidence of any consumer resistance in countries which routinely use vaccination.” Could vaccination prevent future outbreaks? No. There are s
