Over four million head of cattle were slaughtered in an effort to contain the outbreak, and 178 people died after contracting vCJD through eating infected beef.

[1] The outbreak is believed to have originated in the practice of supplementing protein in cattle feed by meat-and-bone meal (MBM), which used the remains of other animals.

[clarification needed] Britain's reliance on food imports (partly also due to an increased population) left it strategically vulnerable during both World Wars; after World War II, it adopted protectionist policies to reduce this vulnerability and sustain rural areas, a direction that was strengthened in some respects after the country's 1973 entry to the European Economic Area provided the Common Agricultural Policy and a larger export market for farmers.

[13][14] In 1989, high-risk foodstuffs like offal were banned for human consumption and widespread fear about beef led many British consumers to stop purchasing it.

[15] A crucial basis for the government's assurances that British beef was safe was the belief that BSE-infected meat products would not be able to infect other animals.

This new form of the disease would go on to be identified as variant CJD (vCJD), occurring primarily in younger people and caused through eating BSE-infected meat.

[31] France continued to impose a ban on British beef illegally long after the European Court of Justice had ordered it to lift its blockade, although it has never paid any fine for doing so.

[32] During the height of the crisis, as well as after cases began to decline, the UK government came under criticism for its response, and in particular for how slow it was to acknowledge the problem, to inform the public and to take steps to deal with the outbreak.

[33] The inquiry report was critical of the government, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Chief Medical Officer Sir Donald Acheson.