Outdated meat practices blamed for CJD deaths

A cluster of deaths from the human form of mad cow disease were today blamed on traditional practices at small slaughterhouses and butchers.

A cluster of deaths from the human form of mad cow disease were today blamed on traditional practices at small slaughterhouses and butchers.

An official public health report said the techniques led to five deaths in the Leicestershire village of Queniborough from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).

All five had eaten meat from contaminated cows' brains prepared at the slaughterhouses and bought at local butchers' shops.

The victims died between August 1998 and October last year.

The official investigation said the victims had all eaten beef that had been contaminated by BSE-infected animal brains.