Bovine Tuberculosis: Testing
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will review the definitions of Officially Tuberculosis Free (OTF), Officially Tuberculosis Free Withdrawn (OTFW) and Officially Tuberculosis Free Suspended (OTFS) herd status to permit continuous testing using additional tests to the Single Intradermal Comparative Cervical Tuberculin Test (SICCT) and Interferon Gamma Test in high-risk herds, including those that have recently regained OTF status, without affecting that status.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
There are no plans to review the definitions of Officially TB Free (OTF), Officially Tuberculosis Free Withdrawn (OTFW) and Officially Tuberculosis Free Suspended (OTFS) status of bovine herds in England.
The recently published recommended Bovine TB Control Strategy for England (https://tbhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-Recommended-Bovine-TB-Strategy.pdf) proposes facilitating access to privately-funded ancillary bovine TB testing to support earlier detection of infected cattle and disease management, including those herds that have regained (or are eligible to regain) OTF status after a bovine TB breakdown.
Government will now consider the recommendations in the proposed Strategy, including on testing.
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