An outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as 'mad cow disease', has been reported in the Netherlands in an eight-year-old cow from a farm in Zuid-Beyerland. The animal did not show any symptoms and was not part of the food supply. This marks the first case of BSE in the country since its declaration as BSE-free by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). BSE is a slow-progressing infectious disease that affects the central nervous system of adult cattle, with human consumption of infected meat potentially leading to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.